Galaxy angel intervention reinvention
by Willgm
Summary: Re-write of my first GA fanfic but with extra plot details and- hopefully- better writing. William Johnson was an ordinary human with nothing to distinguish himself from the 7 billion other humans on Earth. Imagine his surprise when one day a voice comes knocking and drags him into the GA universe. what's a guy to do? Help save the day of course! Rated T for usual stuff
1. prologue

**Hello everyone... wow; its been a very long time since we last saw each other huh? For those wondering yes, this is a re-write of the original Galaxy Angel interventions; the story that'll I've neglected for over a year. With that being the case I figured I may as well re-start the thing instead of continue the old story as all loyal readers- hopefully there are still some of you left anyway- will have most likely forgotten about it by now.**

 **To explain on how things will go in regards to the plot it'll mostly stay the same as to what has happened in the original just- hopefully- better written and more engaging for everyone as I'd like to think I've grown a little bit as a writer since I started that story back in 2013.**

 **Will: About time you started again; though what'll happen to the original story?**

 **Thanks for asking there Will, the original story will remain on there for... sentimental purposes. It was my first attempt at a fanfic after all.**

 **Will: K... Willgm owns nothing in this fanfic except for myself, Sora, the other OC's that'll be introduced and any original plot lines that he comes up with. Everything else is owned by Broccoli.**

 **Thank you Will.**

 **Now, lets get things started!**

* * *

Prologue: An abrupt entrance into the stars

A yawn escaped me as I started booting up my computer. It had been a long day at my part-time job down the nearest subway and right now all I wanted was to relax and play one of my favourite game series:

Galaxy Angels.

If one were to ask me why it was one of my favourites I would have to say because of the genuine likeness and kinship I felt with the characters. Call me odd or even creepy if you want but when I first booted by the first game after watching the animated series- no, even before that _when_ I was watching the animated series- I just felt a connection to the angels and started thinking of them as family.

Milfie was the clumsy younger sibling that could always make you smile.

Ranpha was the non-nonsense taking cousin you still couldn't help but like regardless of her initial hostile attitude.

Mint was the mischievous, all knowing sibling that always kept you on your toes.

Forte was the kind but strict older sister that you could always rely on and trust your back to.

Vanilla... I'd never been able to categorise her as anything. On one hand she was the quiet, shy girl that lived across the street while at the same time the hard working childhood friend that always picked up the slack when you faltered. All and all something about her just made me hesitate in categorising her as just one thing.

And Chitose? She was the rule abiding sibling that tried to keep you in line whenever the parents were in the vicinity.

Enough about that though, I focused my attention on the computer screen that read the name 'William Johnson' as the user name, clicked on the icon, typed in the password and used the galaxy angel icon that hung on my desktop.

I was just about to think over which angel I would romance before the strangest thing happened...

Instead of the Broccoli logo showing up like it was supposed to I instead got a very small dot in the centre of the otherwise black screen.

A groan escaped my lips as frustration echoed through my head. I really didn't want to deal with a faulty computer right now... oh well; can't do anything about it by complain so best-

My plan of action left my mind when the dot grew in rapid speed until the whole screen was consumed by white light and the feeling on a thousand sledgehammers simultaneously smashing into my head threw me off the chair onto the floor.

I resisted the urge to scream while gripping onto my head as an instinct and looked towards the screen from the carpet floor. I immediately had to look away as the light was too bright so instead I worked my way to my feet in a hurry in an attempt to run to the door.

It was then that I heard a voice.

"Peace, child of Earth. I wish you no harm." Almost instantly the pain in my head vanished and a calmness I hadn't felt in years washed over me; causing me to drift into euphoria for the briefest of instances before I shook myself to my senses and returned my gaze to the source.

I turned my gaze back to the computer also like a puppet being pulled on strings and I felt my mind begin to feel hazy; It was suddenly becoming difficult to remain conscious.

"Do not fight it William Johnson, it is necessary for you to sleep now if you are to survive the coming journey." The voice from before whispered into my ear with the softness of an angels wings and the care of a mothers love. "The initial pain was me implementing the knowledge you shall need in the future. I ask your forgiveness for that but it will be a necessary evil as you shall see... I am truly sorry for what is to happen to you in the future but... out of all who I have seen I have found you the most suitable to face the coming crisis... again, I am truly sorry."

The woman's voice sounded truly apologetic and the pain she must have been feeling was clear in her voice. I didn't get what she was asking me to do, I didn't understand the importance of what this mysterious person was entrusting to me to do... but I didn't care.

The pain was genuine, the woman truly didn't wish to do this and was only doing so because all other options had been extinguished. That was the impression I was getting from this woman's words.

And so...

"It's alright." I replied with a reassuring smile on my face. "I don't get it but, if this is that important... then I'll go along with it and forgive you."

"...I thank you, from the bottom of my heart I thank you for your forgiveness." No more words were said after that. It may have been more appropriate to say that no more words were needed.

While I may not have understood what I had to do... I knew that all I had to do was go and do the best I could at it. I may have been just a single, ordinary, eighteen year old human... but I was determined to see whatever I was to do through to the end and make sure it all came up with everyone involved smiling.

...I've been reading WAY too many light novels; I must have to make such a declaration... oh well.

I finally drifted from consciousness when I felt the softness of a finger touch my forehead.

* * *

Tact Mayers was a rather lax man, it wasn't that he couldn't act serious or anything; it was just that his default personality was that of a country bumpkin that spent his time relaxing after a hard days work on a farm... not that he'd actually done that as a child but you get the idea.

Anyway, Tact was currently in a bit of a... 'problem'. It wasn't that he was under risk of being arrested or caught in-between a hostage situation with a gun pointed to his head or anything like that.

No, the problem was that he'd just been assigned as the commander of the ship called the Elsior; the war ship that was in charge of guarding the white moon while serving as the command ship of the emblem frames. The emblem frame, along with the Elsior, were creations known as the pinnacle of lost technology and as such were constantly manned by only those who lived on the white moon- minus the frames as they chose their pilots.

Why was this a problem? Tact wasn't a person from the white moon; he had until a few hours ago been in charge of the 2nd fleet of the Transbaal navy alongside his best friend Lester Coolduras that was stationed over the Criom system.

That had been until GA units 001, 002 and 004 had arrived while being chased by an automated fleet claiming that they'd been sent to find him by order of someone. After the emblem frames finished off the ships Tact and the rest of his ships were escorted to the Elsior where they met the rest of the Angel Wings- the official name for the emblem frame pilots- and he was reunited with his old instructor from the Academy Commodore Luft Weizen.

It had been Commodore Luft that had placed him in charge of the Angel wings- after much persuasion- which hadn't gone over well with the majority of the five pilots.

Thankfully- somewhat- he hadn't had to deal with that problem as they were then suddenly attacked by the forces of the coup d'etat led by the banished prince Eonia.

The forces themselves were led by a general- Rezom or something- and so the angel wings had quickly sortied out to deal with it.

That battle was over now and the enemy forces had retreated. That should have been it but...

It was just as the angel wings were about to be recalled that _something_ opened up in space and released the definite humanoid-shaped object into the open drift that space offered.

It took the crew and the angel wings approximately 2 seconds to realise that it _was_ a human.

"A-Angel wings; collect that body now!" The order left Tact's mouth before his brain could keep up. He was panicked; what he'd just seen made no sense in any sense of the word but... the sensor were showing that the person that had just appeared was actually _breathing-_ he was actually still alive despite all of science screaming that he should already be dead!

Space was cold- in certain areas, space was a vacuum; the moment the body had left the portal... thing that person should have shown signs of dying. The skin changing blue due to the lack of oxygen or intense shivering from the negative climate weren't pleasant. In fact the chest really was reacting normally.

Had they... just wandered onto an alien species that could supply its own oxygen or didn't require it!?

...No, that was stupid even for him (and he could be pretty silly at times.)

"...Harvester... moving to retrieve." The monitor from GA unit005 Harvester that was piloted a teal green haired girl named Vanilla came on screen with the young thirteen year old holding a determined expression on her face as her emblem frame moved to the bodies location at the fastest speed it could muster.

* * *

Vanilla H focussed her gaze on the drifting body before her with narrowed eyes. She hated death, she hated seeing a person in danger of dying since the death of her foster mother Sister Beryl.

She wouldn't allow this unknown person to die while she could help it.

She wouldn't allow herself to fail again.

It took another few seconds before she was close enough to collect the body. As soon as the Harvester was positioned in a way for pick-up the small girl deployed her nano machines to create an environment within the small area between them that acted like the atmosphere on a inhabitable planet.

In other words the nano machines created a situation where it was possible to breathe in space for a brief time.

Not wasting any time Vanilla opened the cockpit and picked up the body as it drifted in. She immediately closed the cockpit and reactivated the nano machines in the atmosphere.

She then took a closer look at the young man on her lap. He was taller than the average male with brown hair that reached to his shoulders with signs of shaving apparent on his face. He wore a casual outfit of black jeans and a shirt alongside white socks. He wore no shoes.

Vanilla was just about to report the collection when the man, as if released from stasis, groggily opened his eyes, revealing diamond blue irises as he did, and looked into her red wine ones.

"...An...Angel...?" slowly, the unknown man slowly brought his hand up until it rested on her cheek. "Beautiful..." He muttered under his breath.

It was then that something strange happened. Vanilla suddenly felt hot and sweat began pouring down her face. Her heart rate increased and the urge to continue looking into the strangers eyes grew in intensity.

Vanilla quickly found herself unable to look away. It was as if she were in a trance; she could do nothing as her body held his close and her face inched towards his own.

It was a few moments later that their lips touched softly and the strangeness in her body ceased. She could control it again but chose to do nothing. A warm feeling made its way into her heart and a goofy smile fought its way onto her lips even as they stayed on the older males.

His lips tasted... sweet, she'd never really read any romance novels before so she'd never gained any second hand information on how kissing was done but... it was nice. In this position she strangely felt... whole, complete. It was as if all her life she'd been missing something without knowing it and had suddenly found it.

And like a drug, Vanilla found herself completely hooked.

...Then the tender kiss ended as the man's head fell back onto her lap and the warm feeling in her chest resided deep within.

As soon as she realised what she'd done an uncharacteristic blush sprouted onto her face, why the hell had she done that!? Why the hell did she want to keep doing it!?

And why was she cursing in her head!?

"..lla!... Vanilla!" Vanilla was dragged out of her thoughts at the yelling of her newest commander.

Tact had a look of concern on his face and the faces of the other angels held similar expressions. Confusion quickly overtook her thoughts on what'd just happened which allowed her to focus on her teammates.

She could figure out what had happened just now later.

"...Yes, Tact?" the goofy smile that had been on her face was replaced with her usual blank expression.

"Did something happen? We lost contact with the Harvester for a bit just then; is it damaged in any way?" Surprise overtook the confusion; they... hadn't seen what'd just happened?

She found herself relieved at that.

"...There are no technical issues, the Harvester... is operating at 100% efficiency."

"...If you say so. Anyway, bring the guy you just picked up over to the Elsior so that we can get him checked out in the infirmary.

"...Yes."

* * *

It took only a few minutes to return to the Elsior, by which time the other angels had already returned and were waiting for her to arrive with her boyfri- _what was she just thinking!?_

She shook her head furiously to remove those thoughts from her head and managed to regain her usual expression by the time she exited the cockpit of the Harvester with the unknown man still in her arms- who she could surprisingly lift for some reason with only little trouble.

"Vanilla, are you alright? We were all really worried when you didn't answer our calls earlier." The girl known as Milfeulle- Milfie to her friends- Sakuraba yelled this to the young girl with a look of pure worry on her face.

Milfie was a girl that possessed unusual luck- in that it was either extremely good or extremely bad- as well as a good cook.

"...Its okay, Milfie... I am fine."

"Oh thank goodness!" The pink haired girl gave out a cry of relief.

"Are you sure Vanilla? Not answering isn't like you." A woman with long blonde hair said this in a while-not-as-worrying-as-Milfies-but-still-concerned face.

This was Ranpha Franboise, a martial arts expert and a lover of fortune telling.

"I... am sure, Ranpha." the worried look however didn't disappear.

"Now now Ranpha let's not get all emotional over this, I am sure Vanilla is perfectly fine on the matter." A small girl with blue hair with what looked like donkey ears spoke on the teal coloured haired girls behalf.

This was Mint Blancmanche, a telepath and a lover of sweets.

"Mint's right Ranpha; I'm sure Vanilla's okay. Honestly, I'm more concerned about the guy in her arms." The new voice belonged to an older woman with red hair with a monocle on her left eye.

This was Forte Stollen, the leader of the Angel wings and a person that loved collecting old, antique guns.

These four combined with her made up the entirety of the Moon angel wings and the best pilots in the entire Transbaal empire.

Forte gave the man in Vanilla's arms a quick look over before opening up her arms a little as if to take him from her.

"I'll take him to the Infirmary Vanilla, he must be a bit heavy for you so-"

"I'll take him." Forte's words were cut off by Vanilla's who held the body a little tighter.

"You Sure? I mean-"

"I'll take him." Forte's- hell, the whole of the group of girls- jaw dropped slightly at the steel in the young girls tone and the slight glare in her eyes. They'd never seen her give such an emotional reaction before.

Was he perhaps a relative of hers?

"...Okay, though at least let us help you with him. Like I said, he must be a bit heavy for you on your own." Forte's reply was subdued and a quick look of suspicion was sent towards the sleeping man's face... something Vanilla caught.

"...No thank you, Forte. I'll take him on my own." without another word the youngest of the five girls walked off with the unknown man towards the infirmary.

"That... wasn't like Vanilla." Was Forte's eventual reaction.

* * *

 _'Why... did I act like that?'_ Vanilla quietly asked this of herself as she made her way to the infirmary. She'd never been the type of person to get angry at someone; hell in order to fully use her nano machines she always restrained and kept her emotions locked up tight.

And yet at the simplest thought of releasing this person and giving him to someone else caused an intense feeling of... she didn't know what it was. She didn't know how to describe what she felt when those thoughts entered her mind but she knew she didn't like it.

Unknown to the naïve girl it was an emotion known as jealousy mixed in with a little bit of possessiveness.

Regardless, she ran into no one along the infirmary and was warmly greeted by the doctor- a woman named Cera- when she entered.

"Good work Vanilla, please place him on the bed here." the kind doctor gestured to the bed nearest to her and Vanilla immediately complied...

Only she couldn't bring herself to release him afterwards.

"Uh, Vanilla... you can let him go now."

"...Yes." With great- REALLY great- difficult the young girl managed to release her hold over the young man and drag herself away from his body.

She immediately wanted to grab hold again but managed to stop herself from doing so.

Suddenly an announcement came from the broadcast system set up around the ship. "All angel wings report to the bridge. I repeat, all angel wings to the bridge." The announcement came from the Almo Blueberry, the communications officer.

Vanilla suddenly felt the urge to strangle her.

"You'd best get going Vanilla."

"...Yes." giving the man one last look Vanilla left the infirmary to head towards the bridge.

* * *

When I opened my eyes I had to immediately close them again at the sight of the pure white ceiling. After taking a few moments to gather my bearings I re-opened them to take a good look at my surroundings.

My first guess was that I was in some sort of hospital ward or infirmary with the smell of antiseptic firmly in the air and the general appearance all matching to that conclusion. There were around half a dozen beds placed at the walls of the room with a desk that held a tone of papers close to the door.

Sitting at that desk was a woman with silver hair wearing a white lab coat with what looked like a blue dress underneath.

For some reason the woman looked familiar.

"...Where am I?" despite my near silent mumbling the woman seemed to hear me- probably because there was literally no other noise in the room- and turned to face me.

It took all I had to not yell out or gasp in complete shock.

"Ah, you're awake." Dr Cera, the doctor that worked aboard the Elsior in the Galaxy Angel universe said this with a small smile on her face.

* * *

 **And that's all she wrote guy. Damn, this actually ended up being longer than I was expecting it to be but I guess this is fine as well. Let me know what you thought of it and I'll see you-**

 **Will: Hold** **it, what was hell was that with Vanilla huh? She never acts like that; ever. Also, the hell was with that magic like thing that went on between me and her?**

 **Simple, I'm changing a few things to suit some issues the original had.**

 **Will: As in?**

 ***Sigh*** **its quite simple really. Basically,** **long story short, I got this idea in my head while re-thinking this and I came to the conclusion that, well... I made everyone pretty much trust you for no reason other than being a nice guy right from the start.**

 **Will: Yeah... so?**

 **So, to fix that, and a few other things, I'm adding in a little something that will explain _why_ they act like that and why everything just went your way just like that *clicks fingers to give understanding***

 **Will:...Okay.**

 **Sora: Does this mean I get some cool power too?**

 **Will: Ah! *Jumps in surprise*** **Where'd you come from!?**

 **Sora: Door was open.**

 **...We already did that joke.**

 **Sora: *shrugs* Who needs originality anyway? *Turns to readers* Please remember to R &R and we'll see you in the next chapter.**

 **Hey! Don't just shut us off on your-**

 **BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, welcome back. Sorry about to cut off last but _someone_ \- *looks towards Sora*- decided to cut the power before I could finish.**

 **Sora: Hehe, guilty as charged there Author-kun.**

 **I get you're Japanese but you don't need to use an honorific.**

 **Sora: Yeah well we aren't close enough for me to not use one for you.**

 **I fricking created you!**

 **Sora: So? *Gives a what's-your-point look***

 ***Sigh* Nevermind...**

 **I won't keep you guys here in our little meta universe any more so let's get on with it.**

 **Sora: Hey, what do you mea-**

* * *

Chapter 1: To meet the angels part 1

My mind remained in a perpetual blank for around five seconds until it calmed down. Thankfully my face hadn't shown any indication of shock but inwardly I was screaming to the heavens themselves.

What the hell's going on!? Why was I in the infirmary of the Elsior instead of back in my room on Earth!?

 _' out of all who I have seen I have found you the most suitable to face the coming crisis.'_

That was what the voice had said but... why did that involve me coming to the Elsior and getting involved in the events of the GA universe? Was the 'crisis' she mentioned referring to the Val-fasc? Was I supposed to help the angel wings with the knowledge of the games or something similar?

...No, I can deal with whatever I had to do later. If it was the Val-fasc I was being sent to defeat then I had- at the very least- six months until Nefuria created the O-Gaub with the core of the black moon.

That was of course assuming that the current time frame was during the events of the Coup but if it wasn't then oh well.

"...Are you alright? you seem to be going a little pale." My thoughts were cut off at the voice of Dr Cera who was giving me a concerned look.

"...Imagine one minute you're just sitting in your room at home and then the next you're waking up in an unfamiliar hospital ward with an unknown Doctor manning the place. If you can then you'll probably understand." My voice came out as calmly as it could and truly I did feel bizarrely calm over the situation.

Dr Cera said nothing for a few moments before eventually nodding her head. "I suppose in that situation your reaction was warranted... still though, I am a doctor so if you feel anything uncomfortable then do let me know."

"Why would I feel uncomfortable? True, I feel a little cold but other than that..."

Cera's face twitched slightly in worry for a moment before steeling her face and look back towards me. "The reason for that is probably because of the time you spent in space without a suit. The very fact that you're still alive is a miracle in and of itself."

I froze partway through her explanation and didn't hear the rest. I'd been... floating through space? I'd been sent out into space without any protection what so ever!?

Forget miracle, the fact that I was alive right now was down right impossible.

"I... see." was the only thing I could say.

Thankfully before anything more could be said- or until the silence between us became awkward- the door into the hallway was opened and a familiar girl with green hair walked through the door.

"Oh, Vanilla. You're back just in time to assist with the health examination." A relieved look came across Cera's face as Vanilla H gave a brief nod in her direction before turning to look towards me... and did something that didn't fit into her character.

She moved in a sudden burst of speed that looked almost superhuman and grabbed hold of my hand while holding a look of utmost... completeness on her face; as if the simple act of touching me filled in a missing part of her soul.

If it wasn't for the fact I oddly felt the same thing towards her I would have adopted a horrified look on my face. Instead a soft smile came to my lips and the urge to pat the smaller girls head compelled me to do so.

It was... odd; while I truly didn't actually know this girl for real there was a bizarre feeling in my chest, as if I had actually known her all my life and couldn't imagine not being together with her every waking moment.

It was scary.

It was completely alien.

It was... _just right._

"Nice to meet you... I'm William Johnson; may I know your name?"

"Vanilla... Vanilla H." The urge to hold this girl in my arms became almost unbearable but I managed to ignore it in favour of removing my hand from hers- something that caused an almost heartbroken look to appear on her face- and get into a sitting position on the bed I was on.

"You mentioned a health examination Doc?"

Dr Cera didn't seem to hear me, she was looking at Vanilla as if she were looking at a new species for the first time. For unknown reasons irritation suddenly rocked my system but I managed to suppress it after feeling a pair of arms around my right arm.

Vanilla had a stubborn look on her face as she held the arm close to her chest- unknowingly letting me feel the still developing mounds there- while facing me. The look basically said 'mine'.

I didn't know what to think in regards to that.

"Uh... Doc?" I tried calling out again.

"O-oh, yes... right." the woman managed to break herself out of her stupor after giving the position of Vanilla another look over. "Um, Vanilla... if you could-"

"There are no health abnormalities other than a below average body temperature." the young angel interrupted. "I shall warm him up myself." shockingly she managed to say that with a straight face and without stuttering. She held my arm even tighter around her before making her way to my waist to bring my whole body mass against hers.

I didn't fight it- more like I couldn't fight it- and I was quickly in the younger girls whole embrace.

Vanilla... was warm. There really wasn't that much to say; I was cold, she was warm and the situation began heating me up instantly. The embrace was... comfortable; I felt more at ease in her arms then I'd ever felt before.

She completed me.

I completed her.

It was that type of feeling.

* * *

"...Body temperature at normal degrees; treatment successful." A few minutes later of utter silence- not that anything needed to be said- Vanilla said these words while releasing my waist and moving her arms back to my arms.

She seemed oddly attached to it... not that I minded.

Though the somewhat satisfied smile on her was cause for confusion.

Hell, her whole attitude towards me was one giant question mark. She didn't know me, she wasn't the type of person to act with her heart on her sleeve and she certainly wasn't a person to make that type of smile.

In order to make proper use of her nano machines she had to act aloof and generally unemotional like a machine for proper use and yet... she'd clearly been showing emotion towards me and her nano machine had worked just fine.

That didn't make sense in the continuity of how they worked. Eternal lovers even showed what happens when she feels emotions like jealousy towards people in her route.

Was that just... made up in order to get her to act that way?

...No, her behaviour was odd. Dr Cera certainly wasn't used to seeing her act like this at the very least and at this point she was probably the person who knew her best on the ship.

So, was the reason she was acting like this... because of me?

"Umm... not that I mind you holding onto me like that- its really nice actually- but why are you doing it?"

"...I don't know, I just feel happy when I hold onto you." Her voice was little above a whisper but I caught it easily enough.

"Is that so..." That was cause for concern. If I'd somehow done something to her while I was out then I could probably be kicked off the ship at the earliest opportunity or locked up somewhere until we reached Rhome.

Or as a worst case scenario they may kill me. While I'd like to think they were just as kind to a complete stranger they'd just met- and they probably were- like in the games if this was during the time of the coup or even during the war with the Val-fasc then something as suspicious as someone appearing in space and actually surviving it long enough to be rescued could easily be accounted as a possible trap.

And again, there was the thing with Vanilla to consider.

Long story short I was probably in deep trouble.

"...I know this is probably a bit late in asking but where am I?" my words were directly at Dr Cera who was still looking at Vanilla very oddly- which again caused a flare of irritation to echo through me.

"...You're in the infirmary on the Battleship Elsior; the command ship of the moon angel wings." Was the eventual response.

"The Elsior, as in _the_ Elsior!?" she gave a quick nod. "...So I'm basically on the white moon right now then?... what a bizarre location change."

"No, we're not at the white moon currently... I'm not sure if you're aware but there is currently a coup lead by the exiled prince Eonia that has led us to flee to the Criom system."

"...Seriously, a coup d'etat!?" A nod was given. "Damn, that's not good. I take it then that the Elsior is leading the charge on the royal families behalf then along with the emblem frames and their pilots?"

"...That is classified." figures, she doesn't trust me. "Still though, how did you end up coming through that wormhole that opened up?"

"Worm hole? That's how I ended up in space?" another nod. "Huh, your guess is as good as mine honestly. Like I said earlier the last thing I remember was relaxing in my room back home... the next thing I know I'm waking up here."

"Is that so... then-" she was interrupted at the sound of the door opening again with a familiar pairing of a pink haired angel and spiky blue haired commander entering the sterile infirmary.

Milfie had a look of major concern on her face while Tact looked like he'd given up on something. This setup looked like-

"Oh, you must be the new commander." Dr Cera confirmed my thoughts with her words.

So this _was_ during the coup... that could be considered both good and bad.

"Yeah, I'm Tact Mayers; nice to meet you Dr-"

"Vanilla!" The male was cut off by the cry of the female as she rushed towards the green haired girl still holding my arm. "Tact cut his hand on one of the plants in the whale room! Please heal him!"

My eyebrow rose at hearing that and my gaze turned to Tacts injured hand which had only a shallow cut on it. Really, her personality really makes it seem more serious than it actually is.

"Looks like a shallow cut to me... unless the plant was poisonous I'd say he only really needs a bandage for it."

Tacts eyebrow rose when he heard my voice and finally noticed me for the first time... as well as the position Vanilla and I were in.

"Oh, you're the guy we picked up after the last battle right? Glad to see you're alright." He gave a smile as he said this.

"Thanks to you and this ship commander. From what little I understand of the situation you saved me out there so... thanks."

Tact shrugged off the praise and instead gestured to the girl on my arm... why wasn't he questioning why she was there yet? "If you want to thank anyone thank Vanilla there, she was the one who actually picked you up and brought you to the infirmary."

"That so?" I turned my gaze to the green haired girl next to me. "Then I owe you one Vanilla; thanks." I patted her head again with a soft smile and she seemed to lean into the hand with a smile of her own.

"By the way, are you a doctor of something? You gave a medical examination from just a glance so..."

"Not really, I took a course to be one at one point but... lets say things happened and I had to drop it halfway through. Still remember the basic knowledge though."

"Oh, all right... so I just need a bandage for this?" He gestured to his injured hand.

A smile crept its way onto my face. "Yeah... but since I'm not actually a doctor I can't say it and let you go on the advice... pretty sure there's laws for that sort of thing."

"Seriously? If you can treat it does it matter if you're actually certified?"

"Actually yes, as far as I'm aware it does." I looked over to Dr Cera who, as if reading my thoughts, nodded.

"He's right Commander. Vanilla may be an exception due to her being able to use nano machines but everyone else needs an actual license to administer treatment and give medical diagnostics."

"...Oh, then-"

"I will treat it." Vanilla interrupted- she's being doing that a lot- and seemed to drag one of her arms off mine and presented it to Tact. "Please give me your injured hand."

"Uh, right; here." Tact quickly placed his injured hand on Vanilla's. The next thing that happened was that a small animal that took the shape of a small furry animal momentarily appeared on her shoulder before it morphed into a stream of light that travelled down her arm until it reached Tact's open palm.

There was a momentary bright light and when it vanished the small cut was gone.

"..." Tact looked at his hand in silent amazement while I turned my gaze to the girl that had performed the procedure.

"Wow, so that was nano machines at work huh? You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Vanilla gave a happy smile and a healthy blush at the praise.

"Uh... Vanilla...?" at Milfie's sudden questioning look Vanilla turned her full attention to the older angel. "Uh, well... why are you holding onto his arm?" She gestured to me.

"...I like it." She simply answered as she returned her outstretched arm to its original position around mine.

"...Okay." Milfie's brow furrowed slightly as she looked me other slightly before... "Oh well! I'm Milfeulle Sakuraba but you can call me Milfie. Nice to meet you!" ...yelling that out at the top of her lungs.

"...Right, nice to meet you too Milfie; I'm William Johnson- though you can just call me Will- please treat me well."

"Haha, sure." we gave a similar smile to each other and shook hands in proper greeting... which Milfie quickly retracted from as if she'd touched an open flame.

* * *

Milfie quickly released the young man's as a spark of electricity almost seemed to spread across her nervous system and an odd feeling spread through her in regards to him.

She suddenly felt as if he were an old friend that she trusted explicitly.

She suddenly felt as if everything he said from this point onwards was the absolute truth.

She suddenly felt-

"Hey, you okay?" Milfie let herself leave her thoughts and focus on the person that suddenly filled her head that was still being held onto by Vanilla.

Strangely enough that no longer concerned her and now she only thought of it as completely natural.

"I'm fine, just a bit of an electric shock is all." Will still gave her a worried look for a few moments before reluctantly nodding and holding his hand out again.

"Then lets complete that hand shake then." Milfie nodded and grasped his hand again.

This time there was no electric shock, just the simple act of the shake and the feeling of having signed a contract with him.

Unknown to both participants of the handshake she actually wasn't all that off.

* * *

...It was strange, something had definitely just happened to Milfie when she'd taken my hand.

Something had shifted between us; I now felt that I could trust the girl before me with my darkest secrets despite having only just met her.

It was as if we'd just made a business arrangement between the two of us and neither of us had read the fine print of what the partnership meant.

It was rather bizarre... but oddly enough it suited me just fine.

The mutual smile was on our faces again and the start of a great friendship had just been forged.

"...What about you Commander? You haven't introduced yourself yet." I turned to the only remaining officially unknown person in the room who had watched the scene between me and the girls silently with a thinking expression on his face.

"...Right, I'm Tact Mayers; just call me Tact though as I really don't like formalities all that much." He ended his sentence with a contagious grin on his face; one that quickly spread onto my own.

"Haha, alright then Tact; good to meet you too." I instinctually held up with my hand again to shake his already waiting palm and we shook in a similar way I'd just done with Milfie.

* * *

Similar to Milfie Tact held an electric spark run through him as he touched the younger males hand but he neither showed signs of discomfort or any outward problems with the friendly gesture.

Also similar to the pinkette he felt his own look towards the unknown individual in-front of him change.

To Tact in particular he felt that he was now looking towards a long lost brother that had suddenly appeared out of the blue that he'd been looking for his whole life.

Similar to Milfie he was now willing to trust Will completely with no detection that something was changing his inner sense of caution towards this stranger.

Perhaps if he did he might have called into question why a girl that had appeared emotionless during their first meeting was clinging to him with the look of pure bliss on her face.

Perhaps if he did he may have considered the younger man's presence on his ship a trick pulled by the enemy.

Unfortunately- to perhaps fortunately if you look at it form the perspective of Will- this unknown presence was taking care of everything for him...

* * *

 **Well here we go, hope you guys enjoyed yourselves with this chapter.**

 **Next one will have us meet the remainder of the angels. After that we'll focus on finishing chapter 2 of the game in about two or three chapter.**

 **Do look forward to them for when it comes out okay?**

 **Will:...You did it again."**

 **? Problem?**

 **Will: The hell is going on is my problem! What am I doing to the gang when I touch them!?**

 **That would be spoilers; though needless to say it should be obvious I'm changing a few things from canon in order to make this work.**

 **Will: And that's apparent how?**

 **...Again, spoilers so I won't be saying anything.**

 **Will: *Sigh* fine, I'll just watch from here.**

 **Thank you for understanding by dear creation.**

 **Ahem, anyway; be sure to R &R everyone and I'll see you next time.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Well, welcome back guys; you know what's going on here so lets just get right into things.**

* * *

Chapter 2: To meet the angels part 2

"...Are you sure this is allowed? I am technically an unknown here so shouldn't there be some sort of security watching us or something?" I asked this of Tact as the two of us, Vanilla- who was still holding onto my arm- and Milfie walked through the halls of the Elsior.

In particular we were walking through the halls of D-deck that contained the engine room, hanger, Infirmary, simulation room, whale room, Forte's private shooting range and gym. We'd just left the infirmary after confirming everything was alright with Dr Cera and now we were making our way to the gym to meet Ranpha.

"Its fine, nothing to worry about... I think." Tact waved off my concern however with a literal wave of his hand and a carefree look on his face.

Oi oi, that's really not the attitude you should take as commander you know.

"...If you say so Tact."

"I do say so."

I couldn't help but smile slightly at his relaxed stance on things.

You really wouldn't think they were in the middle of a civil war with his attitude... then again, that 'they' included me now.

It took the fact that I knew everything was going to be okay- for the most part- to stop me from worrying for the future of the Elsior's crew.

...And my own, I remembered after a moment. Huh, how odd that I'd forget about that.

"So... what's this Ranpha girl like?" My question was innocent enough but I felt the grip on my arm increase tenfold and I had to stop myself from releasing a yelp of pain. Vanilla was giving me a small glare alongside a cute pout on her lips so I quickly patted her head again to appease her.

The grip was immediately loosened and the pout replaced by a smile.

...This really was cause for concern but I couldn't really do anything about it. I'll just have to deal with it for now and figure it out later; hopefully with the help of whoever that woman that sent me here was.

"Ranpha... well you'll just have to see when you meet her."

...Thanks Milfie, that really helped.

Well whatever, I already know her general personality thanks to the games anyway; the question was only to keep the illusion that I knew nothing which I, by all rights, really shouldn't.

* * *

It took us a minute or two of walking through the various hallways and meeting some of the regular crewman until we actually arrived at the gym. Naturally of course, the looks we'd been given varied from confusion to suspicion but no words had been given along the way; just the occasional nod or salute.

Of course, the suspicious looks had been directed towards me but I gave them little heed and just focussed on moving forward with the rest of our small group.

Anyway, we entered the gym one after another and came face to face with Ranpha delivering a severe beating to one of the punching bags that were hanging around the room. There were other things in the room of course, there were exercise bikes, treadmills, weights etc...

Basically you name it, this place probably had two of it.

Focussing back on Ranpha though, after delivering a particular strong kick which sent the bag almost flying off its chain- scary- she turned towards us with a surprised expression.

"Huh? What are you guys doing here... and why is Vanilla holding onto that guy's arm?" Expectedly her eyes narrowed in suspicion similar to that of the crewman earlier but with her it came off as a bit more threatening...

What? One of her kicks could probably knock my head off in one shot! There's also the fact that she's able to destroy that probe later on with a single kick... so yeah; having this woman be wary of me wasn't a good thing for my health.

"Haha... if you want to try and take her off feel free... don't think it'll end pretty though; especially for me." I attempted to make a joke out of the situation but judging from the blank look on her face I don't think she found it funny.

"Uh huh... well then Milfie; who is this guy?"

"This is Will, he's the guy Vanilla picked up after the last battle; you know the guy that came out of the worm hole?"

The blonde's widened at hearing that. "Oh, you're that guy?" I gave a nervous nod. "...Are you a relative of Vanilla's or something? She's never been that emotive to someone before."

"As far as I'm aware no. I mean, I'm fairy sure I'd be aware I had such a cute little sister, cousin and something similar." A healthy blush came onto Vanilla's face at hearing me call her cute and a happy smile appeared too.

The sight increased the intenseness of Ranpha's glare; which in turn caused me to unconsciously take a step back.

"So you're not a relative... then you definitely shouldn't know her well enough that she'd cling to you like this." There was anger in her voice now and even my untrained senses could feel killing intent leaking out from her. "I'll ask this in the simplest way possible; what the hell did you do to Vanilla!?"

The sheer ferocity in her tone caused me to take another step back and sweat to fall from my forehead. "Uh, well-"

"Ranpha! Why are you accusing Will of such things!?" Surprisingly it was Milfie that came to my defence.

"Huh? Don't tell me he did something to you too!? Can't you tell just how wrong this scene is!? She doesn't even know the guy and she's acting like a lovestruck teen!?"

"...I think its really cute actually." was the pinkette's reply

"...I see, so you really did do something to her huh?" There was no rage on her face as she spoke to me but the hairs on the back of my neck still stuck up in complete fear. "In that case..."

 _'!'_ In that instance I moved; my natural survival instincts caused me to duck. In the next instance I felt a sharp wind blow for a moment and...

"Oh? So you could pick that up huh?" Ranpha asked rhetorically with her foot where my face had been a moment ago.

If I'd been any slower it would have hit me and I'd have been out cold in an instant.

"You weren't really concealing your intent there; even an amateur like me could pick it up."

"Is that so... guess I'll have to try EVEN HARDER!" In that instant she brought her foot down to smash into my skull.

Thankfully I'd predicted the blow and was already out the way by having my whole body mass roll backwards. Also thankfully Vanilla had already released my arm when the original kick had been shot so I didn't end up bringing her with me.

"Ranpha! You can't just attack him like that!" Milfie's words fell on deaf ears however as Ranpha brought the launched foot backwards into another kick aimed for my head.

Thankfully I was already out of range and was getting back to my feet.

It was odd just how calm I was at the situation. While I wasn't the type of person to cower when someone threatened me on the streets with a knife or something like it or while looking at the sight of someone genuinely wishing to harm me worry would at least cloud my senses.

That wasn't present here, My mind was focused and my eyes were scanning for a means of counter-attack. While it may have been the best option to just let her do whatever she wanted in order to calm things down my body had other plans as it moved a few feet forward and sent out my own kick in the martial artists direction.

Naturally given my untrained state it was sloppy and was easily dodged by the blonde haired woman.

"Is that it? Humph, you're not worth the wasted time then." Ranpha moved immediately; moving past my outstretched limb she lifted her right leg and sent it towards me in a sure hit that would throw me out of consciousness.

I reacted almost as quickly somehow and blocked it with my left arm. Almost immediately pain shot through and the sound of actual bones breaking could be heard but I ignored it in favour of focussing on Ranpha.

"Huh!? How did you-"

I cut her off by taking the opening that had presented itself and threw all of my body weight into a single punch from my right fist.

The sound of an impact echoed through my ears signified the end of the short bout.

Ranpha fell onto her back with a thud and just laid there while I gently placed my right arm on my left to inspect the damage.

It hurt, several of the bones had probably been thrown out of place as several holes had been made due to punctured out bone and on top of it all there were several sprinklers of red falling from them.

Frankly the fact that I wasn't screaming my head off right now was a miracle.

Oh wait... here we go.

"OWW! That hurt like hell! Jesus woman; did you have to kick me that hard!? Were you trying to kill me or something!?" Ranpha gave no reply, choosing instead to remain on the ground.

Suddenly the feelings of pain vanished and a familiar warmth eclipsed my arm. Naturally when I looked Vanilla had already healed the damage and was holding the injured arm like a caste.

"Are you alright Will? Does it still hurt?"

At the girls worried expression I gave a laugh and patted her head. "No, those nano machines of yours fixed everything up already; thanks." A smile of relief washed over the worry in an instant upon hearing that. "Hey, how about you check on Ranpha okay?"

A frown. "But she-"

"She had... I wanna say good reasons but that kick was just as likely to kill me then to just knock he out... either way, just check on her k?"

"...Alright." She released the arm again- causing a sudden emptiness to appear in my heart- and walked over to the fallen angel and placing her hand on her forehead.

A few seconds later she let go and walked back over to me; attaching herself once again to an arm as she did so. "Ranpha is fine, it was just the surprise of the punch."

"That so..."

"Uh, Will... are you sure you're alright?" I turned my head over to Milfie who was looking at me worriedly while keeping another eye on Ranpha.

"Yeah, I'm good... thanks for standing up for me though; I really appreciate it..." despite saying that though I couldn't stop a frown from growing on my face.

Ranpha had a point, I was a complete stranger to these people and yet I had these two willing to take my side over that of their teammate.

The fact that they were willing to do that during this time of war... was I really doing something to them?

"...Hey, you okay?" I asked this of Ranpha as I hovered over her with Vanilla.

"...What's it to you? Going to brainwash me too?"

"Do I look the type of character that can do that? Look... if I could tell you why Vanilla is acting like this I would but I can't... I just can't because I don't know why myself."

"Ha, likely story. If you really don't know why are you so relaxed about it?"

"What? Any guy would he happy to have a cute girl clinging to him right?"

"Pervert."

"Funny," I stretched out my hand towards her. "How's about we start over huh?" I gave a simple smile and reached my hand out closer towards her.

"...Fine, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now." Saying this she took my extended hand.

* * *

Ranpha wouldn't admit it but she was impressed. She hadn't expected the self-admitted amateur to actually block that kick or to take advantage of her surprise and actually hit her.

While she wasn't the type to brag- okay, maybe she was but that wasn't the point- she was undoubtedly the physically strongest person on this ship; something that she wasn't actually happy about as it was an 'unfeminine' thing to be.

Hey, don't judge a girl based on her thoughts!

Anyway, it was because of that title that she'd been surprised when he'd blocked the kick; even more so when he hadn't immediately dropped when she'd heard the sound of bones breaking. She hadn't actually planned to let her kick be that strong but with the frustration she was feeling towards that mysterious guy that was how it had come out.

At any rate, it had been when she'd looked into his eyes after the impact that had caused her to stop in surprise.

Those eyes... they contained no sign of pain but only determination. She didn't even know if he himself was aware of it but... the message he'd been unconsciously trying to send had reached her:

Give me a chance.

Those eyes of determination held those words despite the pain he must have felt at that moment.

It was because of that she was willing to give him one... just one.

Unknown to Ranpha, it was that decision that prevented what she feared from happening.

* * *

The smile on my face rose at her answer. "Thanks. I guess I should introduce myself proper huh? I'm William Johnson; it's nice to meet you."

"Ranpha Franboise, I hope we can get along."

Our hands shook once and released; there was no feeling of having made a contract like it had with Milfie or Tact- yes, I'd felt the same thing when I'd shook Tact's hand- this time though.

Not going to complain about it though.

"Oiya, mind if I can introduce myself too boy?" A older voice spoke up from the gyms entrance and from the doorway came in Forte... huh, that kinda rhymed.

"Forte Stollen, leader of the Angel wings. Nice to meet you boy." the older woman with a monocle said this with a teasing look on her face as she looked at me and Vanilla... oh please n-

"Oh, seems we're already getting close to someone huh? You say something to her while you were alone on the harvester to get her to cling to you like that?" The words caused a shiver to run up my spine.

There had been a slight edge to her tone beneath the teasing.

"Hehe, don't know really; when I woke up I was already in the infirmary."

"...Is that so?" Oh dear, you could physically feel the disbelief on her face and in her voice.

"Hey Forte, what brought you over here anyway?" Whether she could feel the tension between us rising or not- probably unlikely considering her personality- Milfie spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"Oh... I heard this guy yell out when I was making my way to the hanger." She gestures to me. "I didn't recognise the voice so I went to investigate... wasn't expecting to see him offering a hand up to Ranpha though; you lose a fight with him?"

Said angel looked away with a huff. "He caught me off guard is all. An amateur like this couldn't beat me in normal conditions." I nodded when Forte looked my way after the explanation.

It was true, I'd 'won' our 'fight' due to luck.

If we did a second round now I'd be down in seconds.

"I see... well Mr commander; I was going to the hanger to see if you were there but I don't see the point any more."

"Oh, we were going to head there after introducing Will here to Ranpha." I almost jumped when Tact spoke up; I'd actually forgotten he was even here!

Forte nodded. "Alright, mind if I come with then? there're some things I want to talk to you about."

"Alright, lets go then."

"Sure... let me just talk with the newbie here in private first." Tact and the other angels- minus Vanilla- all nodded and left the room. "You too Vanilla... don't worry; I won't ruff him up or anything." She didn't look convinced but reluctantly- I could tell- let go of my arm- the emptiness appeared again- and followed the others.

Now it was just Me and Forte left. The moment she was sure no one was looking the smile faded into a frown and in the corner of my eye her right hand moved to the holster on her belt.

"...I'll cut to the chase then; I don't know what you've done to Vanilla- don't deny that you didn't do anything- or any of the others but... since Ranpha's willing to give you a change I'll give you one too."

"...I see; thanks." Despite that reassurance I didn't show a smile.

She wasn't done.

"I'll give you a chance but..." She picked up the gun from the holster- a type of revolver from what I could tell- and brought it to my forehead. "If you hurt her or give me a reason to suspect you I'll put a bullet in you before you can blink... understand?"

"Of course," I answered instantly calmly. "I won't waste it... and I'll make sure to take extra care of her. Even if you don't believe me when I say it I genuinely don't know what I've done to her; not yet... I intend to find out though and hopefully reverse it at the earliest possibility."

"Good to hear... and in return I'll keep quiet about this; deal?"

A smile finally managed to make it to my face. "Deal, I'll be sure to meet up with your expectations."

"Good." With that the tension between us dropped and we shook hands.

* * *

Forte wasn't sure on what to make of the boy. On one hand he was a true unknown and seemed to possessed some sort of psychic power that potentially messed with the minds of others.

One the other hand he was an honest person with his heart on a sleeve combined with the guts to face a gun to the face and not flinch.

Needless to say that had put him in her good books and influenced her decision in giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Still though, she'll have to keep a close eye on him from now on to ensure he kept his promise.

* * *

We released each other from the handshake and I released the small breath that I was holding.

That had been really scary! While my face had been blank throughout the exchange inwardly I was sweating bullet the whole time and had almost shut down when the revolver had been drawn.

Somehow however none of the worry had shown on my face and I intended to keep it that way until I was out of Forte's sight.

"Well, I think we've kept the others waiting long enough. Let's head out and let them know we haven't started killing each other." Despite the bad joke I let a soft laugh out.

"Yeah, best to less we face Vanilla's wrath... you never know what the quiet ones are capable of right?"

"Haha, true... by the way; you never introduced yourself boy."

"? Tact already gave my name but sure; I'm William Johnson; pleasure to meet you Forte."

"Same to you Johnson."

"Will's fine Forte."

"I'm sure it is Johnson but until you've proven yourself I'll keep calling you that; sound fair?" I recognised there'd be no point in arguing and just nodded. "Great, let's head out then."

With that the two of us left the gym.

* * *

"...What did Forte say?" The angel at my arms asked this as we made our way to the lounge.

The two of us were currently on B-deck after splitting up with Tact and the others. Since it wasn't military protocol to allow civilians in the hanger Forte had suggested we go and meet Mint so as to complete my introduction to the Angel wings.

Quite clearly we'd agreed.

"Not much really, just to keep an eye on you, to generally be a good boy and keep out of trouble. You know, expected stuff." Naturally I didn't tell her about the threat or the part about the potential usage of unknown powers on her.

Both were likely to go over badly; though for different reasons.

"...Are you sure?" I stopped myself from flinching at hearing the subtle edge in her voice.

"Yes, would I really lie to you huh?"

Yes, yes I would... if only to prevent anything really bad from happening. A little white lie never hurt anyone right?

...Yeah, thinking that's so gonna bite me in the ass later.

"...No, you wouldn't."

"Exactly." I smiled on the outside and frowned on the inside.

Things like this never ended well... but it was the only thing I could do.

We reached the lounge after a minute later of comfortable silence between us. Mint was by herself on a table in the corner with a tray of different treats and a cup of tea in her hand.

"Is that Mint?" Vanilla nodded. "Huh, she's cute; especially the ears... are those real or fake?" I made sure to whisper this directly next to the green angels ear to ensure there was no way Mint could hear me.

If I remembered correctly she really, _really_ hated it whenever her ears were mentioned.

"Yes..." I detected a small amount of jealousy in her voice and immediately patted her head again.

"Let's go and say hi okay?" A nod later and we made our way towards the second youngest member of the Angel wings.

"...Hello, Mint."

"Oh, Vanilla... and you must be the person we picked up earlier." The small girl gave us both a smile while giving an expected raised eyebrow and our intertwined arms.

"Yeah, I'm William Johnson- just call me Will though please; a pleasure to meet you miss Mint." I gave a small bow.

"Hehe, how well mannered of you. I am Mint Blancmanche; though you may just call me Mint. It is a pleasure to meet you as well Will... are you here due to being given a tour by Vanilla here?"

"No actually, we came here because Forte suggested I meet with you; said it was to complete the full meeting of the angel wing."

"Is that so... then would you like to have a drink with me?" She gestured to the menu on the table and then to the other chairs surrounding the table. I gave a nod alongside a smile and sat down on the chair opposite Mint. Vanilla sat on the one next to me.

After taking a quick look through the menu I decided on a breakfast tea alongside a slice of chocolate cake while Vanilla decided on a medicinal tea and quickly left to get the orders from the counter in the centre of the room.

This left me and Mint alone on the table.

Huh, as I looked towards the young girl while waiting a thought came to mind. I never really thought about it before but Mint really was cute. Perhaps it was because I never really bothered thinking about it before but the whole of the angel wing really were beautiful in their own way.

Milfie was simply a pink haired beauty that could easily catch anyone's affection with her smile.

Ranpha was the type of girl that could win anyone's heart if she really tried but she, probably because she was looking for someone really specific or due to having too high standards, hadn't found someone yet.

Mint, again, was really cute that would probably grow to be really pretty when she was older.

Forte... well just give her a dress and put her in a room. She'll be the star of the show.

As for Vanilla-

"Uh, Will? P-please stop thinking such things."

My musings here cut short when I heard Mints stuttering voice and seeing her flushed face.

"Hmm? Something wrong?"

"Uh, well..."

A smile slide onto my face; it was one filled with amusement. "So you really are a family of telepaths."

The shuttering stopped and confusion rose around the girls facial features. "...Huh?"

"I'd heard rumours that the Blancmanche family were telepaths so I decided to test it by thinking of something you'd react to. You seemed the type that give and not take so an embarrassing thought for you came to mind."

"...While I'd certainly heard those rumours as well it was rather rude of you to do something like that. Perhaps I should search up an embarrassing secret and broadcast it among the crew as punishment?"

Hey, don't say such scary things with a smile on your face. It'll scare people away.

"Is that not the point?"

...Stop that.

"May I say no?"

I glared at her 'oh so innocent' expression for a few moments before we both broke out in laughter.

"Hehe... seriously though; you... don't find the fact that I have telepathy concerning or frightening?" The laughter died down after a few seconds and the atmosphere completely dropped when Mint asked that question.

I just rose an eyebrow in confusion, as if to say I found it stupid.

Quite obviously, I did.

"Why would I found it disturbing or feel the least bit frightened by it? While its true most people would find the thought of someone being able to look into their mind unappealing since its apart of you- and because I'm sure you'd never abuse it for your own gain- I have no problem with it. To tell the truth I find the fact that you possess such an ability amazing; I guess the angel wings really is full of amazing people huh?"

Mint gave no reply, she simply looked at me like she would a newly discovered species. It was actually kind of funny to see her open and close her mouth like a gasping fish... okay that was actually a morbid image to compare it to.

Stupid brain.

"...What a bizarre person." Was Mints eventual response.

"Am I? Certainly it may seem strange to you but to a completely ordinary human like me after being apparently dragged through a wormhole across space onto a legendary warship and meeting the legendary pilots of the pinnacle of lost technology something like meeting a telepath or a user of nano machines is just, as they say, par of the course."

My response actually earned a giggle. "You certainly have strange expectancies of what's to happen now don't you?"

I shrugged. "Honestly I'm just happy you guys didn't decide the 'mysterious phenomenon just happened, lets shoot it' approach or the 'mysterious guy showed up out of nowhere, throw him in the brig' method of dealing with problems."

Another giggle. "Well, we couldn't just throw a person that should have been dead but was still alive anyway in the 'brig' where he actually _could_ have died could we?"

"...Point."

More giggles were released and a smile crawled onto my face as I let my eyes wander around.

It was only just now sinking in that, yes; I was on the Elsior. That yes, I was meeting and befriending- somewhat- the Angel wings and Tact. It was a complicated feeling knowing that I was meeting people who I thought to be fictional characters until a few hours ago.

Somehow though, it wasn't a hard thing to grasp. It was something that I could just accept quite easily with a smile and a 'wish me luck' on my lips.

Perhaps then, that made me the strangest thing about this whole ordeal.

It was something to think about at any rate.

"...Will?" I left my thoughts at the guidance of Vanilla's voice as she came back with the ordered drinks and cake. I gave a quick thanks- gaining a smile from the girl- and took the first bite of the cake.

It was good; just like the current feeling in my chest as I sat together with the two girls.

* * *

 **Well, that's the end of this chapter guys. Next time we'll get the bridge scene out the way as well as the prep for the picnic done with the one after that being the picnic itself and potential the space fight as well.**

 **Again, do look forward to when they come out k?**

 **Will:...*sigh***

 **Something wrong?**

 **Will: I read ahead a bit... you really gonna pull that thing with me and Sora?**

 **If you're talking about the powers then yes, considering the characteristics of the White and Black moon I thought they were appropriate.**

 **Will: But mine... I don't like it... I REALLY don't like it.**

 **Yeah well neither do I- Will: Then why are you using it then!?- but its necessary for some other things I'm doing.**

 **Will: The 'other things' are complete bullshit.**

 **My story. People don't like it they don't have to keep reading.**

 **Ahem, sorry about that. Please R &R and I'll see you guys and girls next time. **


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone, welcome back. There's been... a slight change in plan in regards to this chapter. For one the picnic prep won't be happening here; instead you'll get... well just read on and you'll see.**

 **Well... hope you guys enjoy this. See you at the bottom.**

* * *

Chapter 3: The commodores approval and a sticky situation

"Commander Mayers and Angel wings are to report to the bridge. I repeat, Commander Mayers and angel wings to the bridge."

Our downtime was cut short a few minutes after it began by the voice of Almo from the ships ship-wide intercom.

"Well...guess you guys need to get going huh?" Mint gave a graceful nod- somehow- and got out of her chair and onto her feet while Vanilla just looked at me like a begging puppy.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was asking for.

"...I'm fairy sure I've already pushed the things I can get away with here." I explained to the youngest angel in an understanding voice- I didn't want to apart from her either for fear of that emptiness that I'd felt earlier-. "Besides, I'm fairy sure I'll make trouble for Tact if I head up there as well as for the rest of you."

Vanilla didn't budge in the slightest, she tightened the grip on my arm by a factor of five and sent the most determined of looks I'd ever seen.

She REALLY didn't want to be away from me for any length of time did she?

"Mint, little help?" Realising that my attempts were useless I turned to the only other angel in the room for assistance.

Except...

"Now how would I be able to persuade her to let you go Will? You've already explained to me that she won't let you go so how would I be able to go about changing that?"

"...This is payback for earlier isn't it?"

"At least I'm not fulfilling that earlier promise instead hmm?" The Blancmanche heir gave one of her 'oh so innocent' smiles to me before making her way to the door that led to the hallway. "Now come on, we'd best not leave the others waiting long."

Damn you Blancmanche!

It was to the sounds of Mint's giggles that we made our way to the Elsior's bridge.

* * *

It didn't take us long to reach our destination. A quick hop onto the elevator after a straight right from the lounge and a minute of moving forward and there we were. Hopefully, if its possible, I'll be able to get a full tour of the ship in the following chrono jump but depending on how the exchange here goes I may end up locked up for the remainder of the voyage.

Well, isn't that pessimistic?

Anyway, when we walked through the door we were greeted by the other angels, Tact, a man with neck length white hair with an eyepatch over his left eye and an elderly man with long brown hair that separate into several tails that reach his chest.

The white haired man was Lester Coolduras, Tacts best friend and sub-commander of the Elsior. As to why he wears an eyepatch... hey, your guess is as good as mine.

The elderly man was Commodore Luft Weizen, Tact and Lester's former instructor and the current brigadier general of the forces that defended the white moon- essentially the leader of the satellite defence fleet.

These two were the people I was most worried about; mainly due to that I hadn't spoken to them yet but also because of how dedicated both of them were to their mission.

Essentially, they were the ones that would ultimately decide my fate.

"You're late you two... and why is he here with you?" Naturally Ranpha spoke up and pointed- well, not literally- towards me in accusation.

"Would you believe me when I say they wouldn't just drop me off somewhere to be supervised and dragged me here against my will?" I asked in return with an expression that said 'not my fault' written on my face.

Surprisingly she actually seemed to believe it as she just nodded and turned her attention towards Luft who was looking at me- or rather the arm that was being held onto by Vanilla- in curiosity.

Lester, as expected, levelled his visible eye in suspicion towards me but after having faced a gun to the head today it didn't faze me.

I faced Luft and gave a salute "Excuse me, William Johnson. I'm the guy you picked up after your last fight."

"Ah, thought so." The older man nodded to himself in self-satisfaction. "Commodore Luft Weizen, happy to see you survived your space surfing from earlier." He then proceeded to laugh at his own joke.

...Really, space surfing? I mean seriously, SPACE SURFING!?

A giggle from Mint indicated she'd heard my inner yelling and a quick half hearted glare was sent in response.

"...Well, ignoring the bad joke- "Oi"- I apologize if I'm intruding. These two didn't take me not going as an option but if you'd prefer I'd leave then just say the word." The grip on my arm tightened again but I paid it no heed. I shouldn't be here so it was only natural I'd be asked to leave right?

"No, it's fine." My expectations were shattered by the Commodores hearty words. "If Miss H is holding onto you that tightly I think it'd be best you stay." Seriously!? Is there no urgency or caution of a potential security risk from anyone on this ship!?

...Oh wait, there was Forte and Lester. Never mind.

"...Alright then, can I ask what the situation is then? I'm aware we're in the middle of a coup pulled by prince Eonia but why is the Elsior in Criom instead of defending the white moon?"

The atmosphere in the room suddenly dropped and Luft looked way nervously. "Well, you see-"

"We lost Transbaal didn't we?" a reluctant nod was given in response. "Then the royal family..."

"All dead." Luft confirmed. "All except for Prince Shiva who was on the white moon at the time." Oh yeah, Shiva; I'd actually forgotten about _her_. Wonder if I'll be able to meet her later? "The prince is currently onboard the Elsior to be escorted to Rhome where we'll reunite with the rest of the Imperial forces and start our counter-attack with the Elsior and the Angel Wings at the front. That is our mission Johnson... do you understand?"

...Wow, just... wow. You really are putting all your faith on the Angels judgement aren't you Luft? They're vouching for me- or at least not saying anything against me- so you're putting your confidence in me as well huh?

...Thanks.

A smile wormed its way onto my face. "Yeah, I got it; thanks Commodore." Luft gave a nod alongside a smile of his own before turning to address everyone in the room.

"Well then, now that the boy's introduction is out of the way lets get onto the point of this meeting. Lester, if you would."

Lester gave a quick nod to his old teacher before speaking. "We've discovered what Eonia's fleet are up to. It seems they're tightening their hold on the net they've made throughout space in order to catch us."

Tact gave a disheartened face upon hearing that. "But the Elsior isn't fully repaired yet; if the enemy discover us now..."

Lester gave a grin look in response. "Game over."

"Will we be able to finish before the enemy finds us?"

A girl with braided auburn hair that extends past her neck and glasses responded. "No, at the rate of repairs we'll be discovered at the last minute." Coco Nutmilk said this with a look of despair on her face and a hint of worry in her voice.

It was by that point I stopped focusing on the conversation and allowed my eyes to drift over to the various screens and monitors that loitered the bridges forward side. On one particular screen was a simulation showing a potential future based on current events.

Just as Coco had said when a timer below the highlighted blue arrow that was labelled the Elsior reached near to the end multiple red arrows that represented the enemy fleet came in and destroyed the Elsior arrow. Multiple simulations of the same event was shown on other monitors but with different calculations on what repairs to prioritise.

Each still ended in the Elsior's destruction.

It was then that I noted the green arrows that indicated the ally fleet that Tact and Lester had originally been apart of. In all scenarios the fleet moved to protect the Elsior but ended up being destroyed after taking down a ship or two.

...Why wasn't the idea of using them as decoys already thought up was my honest thoughts... before I remembered that most people on the ship weren't actually military so weren't of the most strategic as they could be.

Still though... acting like a game master in an overview game of chess I walked up to the nearest screen and began typing commands into the keyboard below it. The sounds of voices echoed through my ears- probably from Almo and Coco in requesting me to stop what I was doing- but I ignored them in favour of typing in the scenario that would lead to victory.

After a few moments of typing a different look came through. A few minutes before the enemy fleet arrived the green ally ships began to move away from the Elsior and towards an open area where they could jump into chrono drive. In response the enemy fleet changed their course from the Elsior which allowed it to get away after the repair timer ran out.

It was a simple decoy plan that allowed the king to move forward in favour of sacrificing a few pawn pieces.

That was the basics of chess and to a lesser extent war. Be prepared to sacrifice less important pieces to allow your main forces to achieve victory. It was a cruel tactic, one that would be looked down upon if the pawns were to be killed but in terms of pure strategy it was the best that could be done.

"Hmm... very clever Johnson; it seems we've got a good strategist in our midst." At hearing Lufts voice the focus on the screen was cut off and I looked towards everyone in shame.

"Ah, my apologies. It wasn't my place to do that." I gave an honest apology and bowed my head slightly.

"No no, its fine boy; if anything you've saved me from having to explain our next move." Luft gave an unconcerned look towards my clear violation of military conduct and nodded towards everyone else in the room. "You saw it, that's the best thing we can do in this situation. I'll lead the allied ships as a decoy while you finish your repairs and set course for Rhome."

I expected to hear refusal like there was in the game but instead Tact just gave a single nod of acceptance to his instructors request. Oddly enough though I felt no surprise.

It truly was the best they could do if they wanted to prioritise getting Shiva to Rhome.

What happened next was basically clear cut out from the game; Tact gave his farewell, Forte wished Luft luck on behalf of the entire Angel wings and he set off without another wor-

"Oh right, Johnson." With a foot out the door the older man stopped and turned his gaze towards me. "I think you'll fit right in here. Tact, girls; be sure to make the boy feels right at home." With those words the commodore left the bridge.

* * *

"...Commodore Luft and the ally fleets ships are departing." Coco stated after five minutes of waiting around the bridge. Not many words had been stated thus far regarding those parting words but things were probably going to be mentioned when we gave the commodore a salute as he left.

"Enemy fleet changing course, guess they fell for the bait." I heard Lester mutter under his breath. His face hid any emotions he may have been feeling at that point but I was sure he was worried for his old teacher under that mask.

"Yeah, I guess..." Tact, as usual, was wearing his heart on his sleeve and so gave a front row seat to the worry and anxiety on his face. "...Almo, open communication to all blocks and crew quarters; I want the whole ship to hear me."

"Yes sir." Almo typed on the keyboard in-front of her for a moment before giving a nod to the spiky haired man.

"Attention all crewman, cease your current activities and turn to the nearest monitor." He stood for a minute to give the crew a change to follow his request before continuing. "To Commodore Luft and his men; salute!"

"Sir!" the Elsior echoed with the combined forces of everyone's- including my own- voices and the sharp salutes that were taking place.

I was sure everyone was worried deep down; all concerned about the future and what it may hold for them all. It wasn't that I couldn't relate to them; I too was in an unknown situation where failure would lead to certain death.

Oddly though, I felt no worries or any concerns on what that future may hold. It may have been because I knew everything would work out in the end.

It may have been I was just that confident in the girls I'd really only just met.

It may have been I had faith in Tact's abilities as a commander to lead us through.

Or...

It may have been that the girl holding my arm even as she saluted her former commander filled me with so much confidence and certainty that I knew even if we faced the gods themselves we would eventually come out on top.

Vanilla... I don't know what I've done to you. I don't know what it is that has caused you to act this way but...

Thank you, for just being here. Knowing that someone as reliable as you is here to catch us if we fall all but confirms your- no, _our_ victory is both this Coup and the war with the Val-fasc.

And then...

"...Thank you, for being here." I swore I heard Vanilla mutter a similar thing to me as she watched on.

In that instant I felt our hearts truly touch for the first time.

* * *

Vanilla felt better than she ever had in her life. Just by holding him, just by being in his presence, she felt like a missing piece in the puzzle that was her had been returned.

She didn't know why she felt this.

She didn't know how such a thing could happen...

But, if she were to be completely honest, she didn't care.

It felt nice to be with Will. It felt natural to be with Will. It felt like being with Will was simply _meant to be_.

That was the only way to describe it; it was meant to be like this. With her arm around his and he giving her a soft smile as they embraced... that wasn't what they were actually doing at this point in time of course but you get the idea I'm sure.

At any rate, it was just right.

" ...Thank you, for being here." It was with this feeling of completion that she said those words to the older boy.

Yes, everything would be fine as long as she could feel the warmth coming from the person known as William Johnson.

* * *

"...Repairs have been fully completed, standing by until orders are received." Almo reported this after a quick chat with engineering. Tact immediately gave the all clear to head to the nearest open point to enter chrono drive while ordering the Angels to get into a standby position just in case. Everyone including Vanilla left the room immediately to head to the hanger while I remained on the bridge with a confused look on my face.

The reason for my confusion was simple, I had no clue where I should go at this point. It wasn't proper for me to be here but I hadn't so far been told to actually leave by anyone so I was still stood here.

Within a few minutes we reached an open area of space and entered chrono drive.

With that we were safe for the moment.

To my left Tact released a sigh of relief. "Haa, we're safe for the time being."

Lester gave his friend a nod before turning his gaze to me. "Now that everything's in the all clear its time we deal with the elephant in the room."

"Agreed." I voiced instantly. "Now that we're able it'd be best to decide what's going to happen to me. I've practically been given free reign thus far but I am a civilian in the end and not part of the crew."

"Exactly. Well, Tact?"

We both looked towards the one with all the power.

"...We can't just let him help out with general maintenance and other crewman duties?" The future hero asked with a sheepish look. "While its true he isn't part of the navy that doesn't mean we can't put him to work at simple things right?"

"...I know nothing about how the the Elsior ticks so maintenance is just asking for a disaster... I guess I could help in the infirmary as an unofficial nurse or general assistant since I have the basic knowledge down from my old studies or perhaps in the cafeteria since I'm at least decent in the kitchen." As I listed the possibilities of what I could do while we headed to Rhome Lester was giving a nod in approval.

I guess he was happy I wasn't trying to gain any important roles and keeping in line with official doctrine?

Anyway, Tact was writing down my suggestions on a datapad- that he seemingly pulled out of nowhere- and gave a satisfied nod when I finished.

"Okay, I think we'll be able to work with this. For the time being, welcome to the crew Will."

"Hehe, thanks Tact." I gave the older man a small smile in thanks before turning to exit the bridge. "I think I'll wait in the lounge until everything's sorted if that's fine." Without waiting for a response I left to listen in on the conversation the girls were sure to be having.

* * *

A few minutes of getting lost later I finally got down to the lounge and crouched down as I entered to hide behind a nearby table before any of the girls noticed me.

As expected they were talking about how they were concerned with Tact's greenness when it came to leading them. As far as I could tell though there was no changes from the talk in the actual game minus some things from Mint as she hadn't actually interacted with Tact due to meeting me instead.

It was just around when I was ready to reveal myself when the conversation took... an interesting turn.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's have a talk about that kid Will." Almost as if she were using the whole conversation thus far as a way to bring it up Forte weaved the topic change in flawlessly.

"I agree... if nothing else his apparent physic powers are a cause for concern." Mint added this in as if she too had been waiting to talk about it.

"So you noticed too huh?" Mint nodded to her leaders words.

"While I agree with you guys... I already promised the guy I'd gave him a chance so I'm gonna do that."

"Oiya, has the guy beating you in a fight interested you Ranpha~?"

"D-don't be silly! I just promised the guy I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now is all!"

"So did I... doesn't mean I'm not going to keep an extra close eye on him though. I already made it clear to him that I'll put him down should he make one slip-up."

...I should have expected this. It was only natural they'd talk about this when they got the chance... and of course there really wasn't a way for me to enter the conversation naturally without revealing I'd be listening in.

...Damn it.

"C- c'mon everyone, I'm sure he means well." Just like before Milfie came to my defence instantly.

"I'm certain he does Milfie... if anything I've never had someone react that way to my abilities before."

"That so? Mind telling us what he said Mint?"

"...He said it was an amazing thing to have and that we all really are amazing people." The Blancmanche heir said this with a small blush on her face that looked really cute.

"That so... well I wasn't there so I can't say anything about that."

"At any rate," Ranpha suddenly interrupted while gazing at Milfie and Vanilla. "Considering that he's probably done something to you too Milfie your opinion can't be taken into consideration here... same goes for you Vanill- don't glare at me with that!" Ranpha's words were cut from by the aforementioned glare from the youngest angel.

Vanilla was radiating cold fury with her eyes and a flicker of a familiar blue wolf momentarily popped into existence behind her.

!

This was bad, despite the fact I was feeling fine a moment ago I could feel rage suddenly echoing through my head. What... just...

Am I... sharing Vanilla's feelings at this moment!?

The hell kind of magical bullshit was this!?

...Never mind that now, Vanilla looked about ready to kill with the look in her eye and the wolf was slowly gaining both body size and increased muscle.

It was being modelled to attack and to kill at this moment.

By this point everyone else had noticed the change in atmosphere around the girl and the wolf. Mint immediately moved away to the next few tables away to get out of range along with Milfie while Ranpha and Forte gave each other a glance before entering a type of combat stance with Ranpha in a martial arts type pose and Forte with her hands reaching towards her revolver.

...This was really bad, the situation had escalated far too quickly too control.

Have... to do something... before...

Damn it! The feelings of rage were created inner conflict in my brain.

It was almost impossible to move from my hiding spot... no, if my emotions were connected to Vanilla then...

I'll have to offset it with happy feelings. I quickly threw together positive images in my mind and prayed with all my might that it would do something.

Images of the two of us eating together under a tree with everyone.

Images of the two of us sharing a dance.

Images of the two of us surrounded by animals.

I forcibly created these scenes and more in my head in an instant and projected them as vividly as I could in my mind.

...And then the rage flickered and I could move by frozen body.

"Hey! While I'm certainly happy you'd get mad for me going this far is just insane!" I yelled these words towards the red-eyed girl in a single breath. "The girl I've known so far wouldn't get this mad over a little thing like this... wake up!"

As if a switch was flipped in Vanilla's the feeling of rage was completely gone in an instant and the wolf shrank back into that of a rabbit.

The scary situation was solved before it could fully develop into a disaster.

"W-Will... I-"

"Like I said, while I'm happy you'd get mad for my sake lashing out like that isn't gonna do any good k?"

"...Yes." I spotted a tear roll down her cheek as the shock came in.

It was to be expected. She wasn't the type to get mad.

She wasn't the type to lash out.

The reason for this change... was most definitely me.

"Hey..." I wrapped my arms around her waist after making my way over. "Its fine, no one got hurt so all is well right?"

"B-but..." A look of utter self-loathing sat on her normally expressionless face; self-loathing... and true pain from her actions.

And it was prob- no, it _was_ most certainly my fault.

"...I'm sorry." I couldn't prevent the words from leaving my mouth but from the lack of reaction it was likely she didn't hear me.

Everything else though...

"This goes far beyond sorry! Vanilla's never acted like this before; even her nano machines reacted in response to that! Fix this now or I'll kick your ass until-"

"That's enough Ranpha." Surprisingly it was Forte that came to my rescue this time. "He's already explained that he can't control this power so its likely he only just awakened them... because of that we can't expect this to be fixed any time soon."

"...Whatever, I'm going." With that the blonds haired angel left the lounge after sending a final glare my way.

"...I'll say it for everyone here, thanks. Things would have probably gotten really messy if you hadn't stepped in."

"Don't thank me, it's my fault this happened in the end. You... you don't thank someone for cleaning up their own messes."

"..." Forte didn't reply to that, instead she nodded after a few moments and left the room.

...Things really seem to have developed into a mess.

* * *

 **Well... that happened. Sorry that things are taking a slow turn here but honestly this ending scene just popped into my head and I couldn't help but write it.**

 **And when I did... it just didn't feel right to continue afterwards.**

 **Well... next chap is going to be the preparations for the picnic- and maybe the picnic itself if you guys want- but until then I'll be seeing you guys.**

 **Bye!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone. Change of plans again as this chaps just going to be about getting the angel wings to go to the picnic instead of containing the picnic itself... sorry about that but I don't want these chapter to become ridiculously long like the ones I'm making for my To Aru fic- hell I consider this one to be too long as well but I'm not making a two parter again any time soon so its stuck in one 7-something k chapter for ya.**

 **Have fun with it and I'll see you at the bottom.**

 **...Oh yeah, got reviews to cover (yours don't count stevie as there's nothing really to be said about them. Sorry :P)**

 **Guest: Hmm... I'm not entirely sure honestly in regards to the harem elements I was planning in the original work- especially when you consider Vanilla's jealousy and protectiveness is really cranked up to 11- but the answer will probably be yes seeing as the poll asked for it.**

 **As for who'd be in it though... lets keep that a secret for now huh?**

 **Anyway, lets get started on this for real.**

 **Start!**

 **p.s. Just to mention this now but from now on I'll be posting these chapters every sunday to give me time to write ahead. Hope you guys don't mind.**

* * *

Chapter 4: To return the fallen morale

"...So that's what happened huh?"

"Yeah... sorry." Tact waved away my apology in a hasty manner by waving his arms around in-front of his face.

It had been about ten minutes since the incident in the lounge; during that time everyone had left both Vanilla and me behind with no words exchanged. Tact showed up five minutes ago where he found Vanilla silently crying into my shoulder and got us to explain what had happened.

By the end of the explanation his face had turned grim and a thinking look came across his features; probably to ponder on what to do next.

Vanilla hadn't said a single word since the incident had ended. She'd simply hung onto my arm like a life line and wept her pain and frustrations with herself in silence.

The fact that she hadn't once looked at or blamed me throughout the sobbing however had only served to drive a stake in my own heart.

It was my fault. What had happened was a result of whatever I'd done to her when she'd picked me up in the Harvester and I was powerless to do anything to reverse the change.

It was clear to everyone by now that I somehow possessed some kind of psychic power. The problem with that revelation however was that I had no idea exactly _what_ it did, _how_ it either was activated or worked or _why_ it even existed at all.

The last point was the biggest concern to me. To put it simply psychic powers didn't exist on Earth. True there was the occasional strange ability that a random person claimed to possess but there was never any confirmed abilities or evidence to support the existence of supernatural powers.

With that being the case why did this power manifest in me? What was its purpose? What problems would there be now that its power had been exposed in such a negative way? Perhaps the most important question though...

Was whether the effects could be either reversed or removed from a target once used. If there was then Vanilla- and possibly Milfie and even Tact as well- could be returned to their original state and have whatever changed their perception in regards to me returned to normal.

Wait... their perception in regards to me? Was that it? Did this power I possess somehow warp the way they thought about me to suit my needs or something similar?

Hmm... come to think of it I'd seen such a power before somewhere. And, if I could remember what series that power had been in and how it worked then-

"Will?" I left my thoughts when Tact spoke up. "What do you think we can do now? Morale among the angels are going to be at an all time low after that and if they go into battle in that state..." Tact left the words hanging but I knew what he was referring to.

The emblem frames ran on the HALO system to control the chrono string engines that the frames ran that was powered by the mental state of the pilot. To put it simply the better the mood the pilot was in the more effective they would be in combat and more capable they be at drawing out the power from the chrono strings; potentially releasing unlimited power if at max condition.

What had happened earlier however would have certainly put the angels mental state in the negatives; resulting in rather poor performance ratings which would lead to certain defeat in the oncoming battle when we exited chrono drive.

While this wouldn't be a problem considering the picnic Milfie would have come up with by now due to I being here and the trouble its already caused that idea has probably been thrown out of her mind.

In other words we're incredibly stuck on what to do and its all my fault.

...Damn it.

"Obviously we need to get the morale back up somehow." I received a nod from the spiky haired commander which signalled to continue. "But... any idea I could bring forward would probably be rejected by them considering the trouble I've already caused them... honestly I'm as stumped as you are." I gave the answer he clearly didn't want to hear and he slumped further into his seat.

"Hey, Vanilla. You got any ideas?" It was a long shot but I turned to the crying angel at my side for any input from her.

"...I don't... know." I ripple of self hatred wrapped around my chest at hearing her broken voice. Whatever pain I'd been feeling was just tripled and I had to physically stop myself from falling off my chair to grip my chest.

Once again, it seemed that her emotions were somehow being transferred over to me. Her feelings of sadness combined with my own doubts and worries sent my heart down a downwards spiral that would only reach into the abyss of despair and consume me...

Hang on... why the hell am I acting like this!? I'm on the fucking Elsior for gods sake! I'm on the same ship as the strongest pilots in this galaxy and the most compatible commander to lead them aren't I!?

Lost in morale that'll lead to certain defeat? Such a thing doesn't exist to these girls! Just throw them into the same room for five minutes and they'll fix themselves up in no time with their witty humour and acts that play off each other flawlessly!

The impossible odds of them getting over what happened earlier so easily? This is the angel wings, creating miracles is their speciality!

This was no time to mope around damn it! As long as the ships still flying we've got a chance of doing this!

And we'll do it... even if I have to force some things along.

No matter what, I'd been thrown here by some mysterious woman and I am damn well going to make sure we get through it added complications or not!

With those thoughts of determination in my heart I spoke up once more.

"Hey Tact..." He got out of his slump once called and looked at me in curiosity.

"Yeah?"

I smirked. "I've got an idea."

* * *

Vanilla... suddenly felt rejuvenated. It wasn't something that could be described through words.

One moment she was bitter with herself over her reaction with the other angels and the next she was feeling ready to take on the whole of Eonia's fleet herself.

She was confident.

She was eager.

She felt encouraged.

It was then that she took a look towards the person she'd been silently crying on for the last ten minutes.

What she saw brought an large smile on her face.

Will was smiling. It was a look that said he hadn't lost hope or was ready to give up.

Despite what had happened he was ready to go out and accomplish a goal that would, surely, bring smiles on everyone's face.

Perhaps what caught her attention the most though was the look in his eyes. To put it simple they shone with a radiant light. To put it in reality, the fires of determination echoed all the way to his soul from its windows.

It was that sight that caused the girl to forget the tears and the regret. She was completely captivated by the light that shone in those blue eyes and the message they displayed.

It was because of this, that the girl held the arm that was in her arms close to her chest in contempt.

It would all work out, as long as that light remained in his eyes a miracle was sure to turn everything around.

She was sure of it.

* * *

"Milfie, are you in there?" We stood in-front of the door that led into Milfie's room on C-deck.

The reason we were at her door was to initiate the picnic plan so as to return the morale of the angels back to normal. I'd already explained the whole idea to Tact and Vanilla with general approval from them both in regards to it.

A cynical part of my brain claimed that it was due to this mysterious power I possess but I ignored it in favour of getting on with things.

"...Oh, Will, Tact and Vanilla. Can I help you guys with something?" After several moments the pinkette greeted us with those words while holding a small look of fear when she looked towards her teammate.

"Yes you can, you see we were planning on having a picnic to get everyone's morale back up for when we exit chrono and when Vanilla said you were a good cook I figured I'd ask you to help with the prep... also, Vanilla has something to say." I patted the shoulder of the girl that was hanging onto my arm and she gave a hesitant nod before letting go and moving forward until she was a few feet in-front of the pinkette.

"Vanilla..."

"Milfie... I'm so sorry for what happened earlier." Milfie released a small gasp as her junior bowed her head. "What I almost did... was unforgivable. I... allowed myself to feel anger and I lashed out at you and everyone else. For that... I am truly sorry." The girls shoulders shook slightly as the tears fell once more.

I wanted to hold her and wipe away the tears immediately but held myself back. To do that now would cause the courage she had mustered up to evaporate. For that reason, no matter how much it hurt, I stood my ground to the pain the girl was feeling even now and remained the onlooker.

"V-Vanilla, I..." In response to the sudden apology the elder of the two looked away awkwardly for a few moments before...

"...I forgive you." She looked back with a true smile before wrapping the weeping girl in her arms. "I know you only did it because of what the others said about Will... and we all know that you'd never do something like that unless it was for someone special to you." She turned her attention to me and gave another small smile. "If anything... I'm sorry I didn't try and put up a better defence and leave you to the wolves. Please forgive me?"

"...Yes." Timidly, Vanilla allowed her own arms to wrap around the pinkettes waist.

Neither I nor Tact could prevent the smiles that came to our faces at the sight of the pair of pilots become close through this experience.

One down, three to go.

* * *

"...Are you sure about this?" Vanilla asked this of me as we stood before the door that lead to the gym yet again.

After the pair of girls had released themselves from their hug we immediately set to work on the prep for the picnic. Naturally Milfie was on cooking duty as she was the only person who'd be able to make the amount of food needed in time and actually make it taste good. Not actually being that bad at cooking myself- though probably no where near Milfies level- I'd volunteered to help while Tact went to convince the girls to take part.

Milfie had immediately rejected that idea. Instead, she asked Tact to act as a mediator between herself and the people in the cafeteria to get them to help work on something's for the stuff she didn't have time to work on like the Ranpha special while it was up to me- and only me- to convince them instead.

Vanilla was going to apologize to everyone after we gathered everyone in the park when everything was done so for now she was mainly just going to be the one who lead me to where they would probably be.

Ultimately, after much debating, we ended up deciding to tell Ranpha first as she had been the most affected by the incident and was probably the most pissed...

In simple terms, we'd chosen her first so that if she chose to beat the shit out of me I could get patched up quickly and would be able to see everyone else.

"I'm sure, you just wait out here for me okay?" She didn't look happy- far from it- but she ended up nodding in the end. "Great... just be prepared to run in if you hear me scream." I tried to play it off as a joke but from her completely serious expression if seemed to fail. "...Just don't freak out if things end up like that k?"

I entered the room without bothering to hear the reply.

As expected Ranpha was beating the living hell out of another punching bag. Even from my position at the other end of the room I could feel the killing intent she was letting out and the sound from the bag easily indicated how much force she was releasing in her strikes.

...Lets take this slowly.

"Hey Ranp-" I was immediately happy I'd called from the door less I'd have been struck by the foot she'd automatically sent out at the sound of my voice.

...Okay, lets take this REALLY slow.

"What, do you want?" The poison in her voice was clear as crystal and the preparedness to strike the instant I came closer was obvious from her movements.

In response to those toxic words and threatening stance I gave a disarming smile. "Well Milfie, Vanilla, Tact and I are planning on having a picnic and I was wondering if-"

"No, get lost." As expected, an instant rejection.

"Even with Milfies supposed amazing cooking and the cafeteria staff making something called the Ranpha special for you? Are you really going to shun their hard work by not showing up?"

I sharp wind blew past me as she sent a punch my way... scary. "Try to guilt trip me again and I'll send you to the infirmary; Vanilla's reaction be damned."

Sweat was beginning to find its way down my back. Damn, this was more pressure then it had been when Forte had her revolver at my head!

Still though, I didn't lose my cool. I steeled my resolve and looked the angry girl in the eyes. "Do you really not want to take part? I get what happened earlier has probably pissed you off beyond measures but if we want to get through this whole ordeal then we're going to need to find a way to work together- or at least find a way to tolerate each others presence. We can use this picnic as a chance to do just that."

"...Give me just one reason to trust anything you say Johnson; just one."

...I felt some sort of wall build up around us; if this was a game this would probably be when a choice would be presented to the player on how to respond... but this wasn't a game. In real life you had only one chance; just one to make things count.

If I screw up here... things will end badly for the relationship between me and her for the rest of the coup and possibly beyond even that.

She wants a reason to trust me? Then to that...

I sigh.

"H-huh?" at the complete one-eighty reaction to her words the girl almost seemed to be thrown off balanced like one would in a anime and fell to the ground with a thud.

"There's nothing I could possibly say that would convince you to trust me." I finally answered as I made my way towards her fallen form slowly. "Anything I could say would just be interpreted as a lie in your mind and would only cause you to distrust me more... so; instead of focusing on my words make your opinion based on my actions from here on out. A man's true colours are always revealed through their actions right? So... watch me, keep tabs on me, do whatever you have too to ensure that whatever I'm doing is helpful to you guys and not the opposite."

I breathed out once. "That's my answer Ranpha... what do you say?"

The blonde said nothing for a few moments. She simply gazed up at me- more specifically she looked straight through me through my eyes. Her will interacted with mine through the windows to our souls for those tranquil moments.

And then...

"I got it... I promised I'd give you a chance so I'll keep my promise despite the hiccup from earlier." She took the extended hand I offered and got to her feet. "Just so we're clear I'm not just going to let you wander free throughout this journey to Rhome nor am I going to let you slack off while you're here. Everyday starting tomorrow you're going to come here when I call and you _are_ going to stay where I can keep an eye on you. Understood?"

I couldn't stop the surprise from covering my expression. Did she... just offer to train me?

"...Yeah, I got it Ranpha. I'll be sure to do just that."

"You'd better... Will." A mutual smile of respect came across our faces and we shook our hands in agreement once again.

...We'd taken our first step in working together. The problems between us were far from over and those problems were likely going to hang over our heads until we reach Rhome or possible until the coup ends... but we'll probably sort them out in the end.

This was, after all, just the first of many steps I'll take in regards to my relationship with this girl.

"So you'll be coming to the picnic right?"

"Isn't that obvious; I said I'll be keeping an eye on you didn't I?"

I didn't attempt to hold back the laughter that came out at that.

"Alright then, I'll see you at the park at around 14:30 then okay?"

"Sure." I gave a nod and was about to turn back to head to the door when... "By the way..."

"Hmm?"

BANG!

…I was sent flying across several metres and into the wall next to the automatic door.

"That's for the punch from last time; now we're even."

...Yep, definitely the start of a beautiful partnership between us.

* * *

"...Are you sure you don't require treatment?" Vanilla asked for literally the two dozenth time- yes, I counted- as we made our way towards Forte's firing range at the other end of the deck near the engine room. A clear visible bruise could be seen on my right cheek from where Ranpha had punched me but it didn't bother me that much...okay, it still stung like hell but considering just how much pain I'm sure to be sent through by that woman in the future I'd decided to bear with it so as to get used to the feeling of getting an actual injury.

...Probably a stupid reason considering my body will probably never get used to the pain properly but oh well.

"And for the last time no, if I can't handle this then the training I'll be getting from her in the future will be just plain hell."

"...Are you really going to go along with that?"

"Yeah, if I want to gain her trust going along with it is for the best."

"...If you're sure."

"I am." I patted the clinging girls head to calm down her worry for me. "Don't worry about it too much okay? All that stress is going to cause you to go bald; and that's not a good look for a cute girl like you." The words flowed out as natural as it was to breath and I felt no embarrassment from them.

An oddity considering I was never that bold with compliments for girls in the past.

Maybe whatever I did to the young angel affected me too in some way?

"...Not funny."

"Maybe not but that pout sure is."

...Anyway, a minute later we reached the entrance to the moon angel leaders private hang out. After getting Vanilla to release my arm- an effort that took almost losing the whole limb to her hands forever- I entered the place alone to find the monocle wearing, big breasted woman firing out a few rounds from her revolver.

*BANG*, *BANG*, *BANG*

...Whew, all head shots and wounds through the heart. As expected she's really good with her aim. It made me begin to wonder how she faired with other firearms like a rifle or a shotgun seeing as we never see her use anything over than the revolver she's currently holding in her hands that's currently pointed at my face...

Huh, when did that get there!?

"W-wow! Don't shoot; no need for friendly fire here!"I jumped back slightly at the presence of the weapon and fell on my ass.

"Haha, seems the immovable object can act human after all huh?" Immovable object? I wasn't a machine or anything so where'd...

Oh right, I hadn't shown the slightly trace of worry when she'd pointed that thing at me last time.

Guess that ruins the calm and collected look I'd unconsciously gone for when dealing with the woman.

"Haha, you got me. Shame this isn't a pool setting so I could repay you with a return splash."

"Oh, you want to get wet together with me when you've already got Vanilla at your back and call?"

"Very funny... you know what, How's about we go to a pool or wherever so we can tag team you and have you begging for mercy?"

"Sounds fun, mind if I bring the rest of the girls too?"

"Why not? We'll have a huge private water war between the six of us."

"..."

"..."

"...Hehe."

""Hahahahaha!"" We both simultaneously started laughing like idiots. This type of atmosphere, that which opened way to such ridiculous situations like this and saying things like that... this was exactly what hanging around the angels should be!

...After a minute or so of non-stop laughing Forte helped me back up to my feet and lead me to the shooting range where she all but shoved a spare gun in my hands and helped position me to where I could safely fire the weapon without worrying about recoil.

Arms tucked together... both eyes trained on nothing but the target I wished to hit... I deep breath to steady my nerves...

Fire.

BANG! A single shot rang through the gun and the bullet... missed the targets centre by a few inches.

"Hmm, not bad for a seemingly first attempt but we'll need to get you more training with it if you're going to hit something."

I nodded before making the preparations to fire a second- wait a minute! This isn't why I came down here!

"Uh, Forte? Thanks for the quick lesson but I didn't come down here to learn how to shoot."

"Really? You didn't seem to complain when I taught you the steps just now but oh well... so what do you need?"

"Well we're putting together a picnic and I was put in charge of inviting everyone while Milfie worked on the food and Tact acted on her orders to get the cafeteria staff on working on some things too."

"...And Vanilla?"

"Guiding me through the ships to where you guys were. We've already spoken to Ranpha- and yes she was the one to give me the bruise before you ask- and figured since you'd probably be here we'd come tell you next."

"I see." A smile sat on the older woman's face. "In that case I'll tag along; when is it?" I quickly explained that it was taking place in the park and what the time of it would be. "I got it... I just hope nothing bad happens."

"Huh?" I knew she was talking about Milfie's luck but played ignorant as I hadn't officially been told yet... damn how I hate having to play ignorant.

"Nothing, just muttering to myself." She quickly looked away and returned her attention to the shooting range. "At any rate, I'll be there... and good luck in finding Mint; I don't know where she went off to."

"...Right, thanks." I left the shooting range without another word.

* * *

Had I waited a little longer, I probably would have heard the words Forte spoke next.

"...Haa, you're a good kid Johnson; let's hope for all our sakes that's not just an act... I'd hate to have to break that girls heart by having to shoot you." While still wearing that smile on her face from earlier the leader went back to her target practice in silence.

* * *

...Finding Mint had been no easy work. After taking a quick peek in her room, back at the lounge, through the park and in the convenience store we finally found her in the whale room of all place... something I found odd as in the game- from what I could remember- she never spent any time there.

Oh well, having a beach area you could relax in that you could access at any time would probably draw in most people so what do I know?

That was what the whale room was; the entire place had been modelled after a tropical beach you'd find in places like Hawaii. The sand was probably supplied from an actual beach as it felt real enough when I grabbed a small handful when we first came in and the artificial breeze that the air conditioning was creating fully created the atmosphere of that kind of place.

It honestly made me wonder why it wasn't used that often.

In any case, after being introduced to the carer of the animals here as well as the mediator between us and the space whale that the room was named after- a small boy named Kuromie- we found the young Blancmanche heiress floating in the water clad in a one-piece blue (of course) swimsuit.

She looked really cute in it... really cute; made me want to just pick her up, put her on my lap and-

"Ah!" I silently chuckled to myself at Mints reaction to my thoughts which caused her to fall off the ring she was floating on and down into the water.

"D-don't think of such things again!" She yelled this at me when she made her way back to us on shore a minute later with a full glare on her face.

"...Will, what did you think of?" *gulp*, Vanilla was glaring slightly while constricting my arm as tight as a boa would.

"I- I was just thinking of tickling her ears that's all!" Please Vanilla-sama, don't crush my arm with that grip of yours, I still need it!

"...Promise?"

"Yes! Mint, tell her!" I looked towards the bluenette for salvation... only to find a 'smile' on her face.

"...Must I really? Are you the type of person that gets off on having girls tell others about your sexual fantasies?"

...S-sexual fantasies! The grip increased tenfold and a familiar wolf was starting to grow behind the girl. Mint didn't give an ounce of fear however, instead choosing to give a 'you reap what you sow' expression with her 'smile'.

"W-wait! Its a lie I tell you! I demand a chance to ex-"

"...Attack."

"AAAAGGHHHH!" I was promptly mauled by the nano machine generated wolf.

* * *

"...Haa, I thought I was going to die."

"That's what you get for creating such images in your head." Mint spoke in a no-nonsense voice while applying some soothing lotion to the various scratch and teeth marks that were covering my body that she'd gotten from the infirmary. My cloths had been all but torn to pieces- minus my underwear thankfully- and so I was wearing a spear uniform of a generic crewmen they'd managed to find that had been in my size.

Currently though I wasn't wearing the shirt so that Mint could treat the wounds... something Vanilla had refused to do before stomping off to the animal pens to presumably look at the space rabbits.

"Maybe so but did you have to go that far?"

"...Well, I wasn't expecting that reaction now was I?"

Convenient excuse their young Lady.

"Not funny, since we're face to face you could at least use your mouth."

"Sorry, just happened."

"Like that thought of yours?" Her tone had turned brittle.

"What? I think those ears of yours are cute."

"...Thank you." Somehow the comment had made her blush.

From there the conversation stopped and I silently allowed the small girl to sooth the wounds on my back before she made her way to the front to rub the lotion there. When she saw my chest she paused for a second and seemed like she wanted to say something before quickly shaking her head and getting to work... I guess she saw 'that'.

"...Done, just let the lotion set in for a few minutes before you put the shirt on; Dr Cera said the materials of the clothing will interfere with the lotions effect and cause a rash."

"Alright, thanks for the help." I gave the girl a small smile before setting back down next to the unworn shirt and sat up straight while watching the waves of the water gently rock back and forth across the sand...

This was a really nice place to relax; I'll have to spent as much time as I can in here while I'm on the ship.

"Um, Will?"

"Interested in 'that'?" I asked with a monotone voice while pointing to my chest. 'That' was a stab wound with was levelled at exactly where my heart was. It was in a slim shape indicating that it was a small knife but clear signs of stitches that showed it was a clean stab at the precious organ without any resistance from the victim...

That was one part of the past I'd rather leave forgotten and buried in a ditch somewhere.

"Um... if its too personal then I won't ask but-"

"It's fine, not like I have anything to hide from anyone." And another one to add to the list of lies.

"...Haa, it happened around two years ago." I explained with a complicated expression on my face. "Me and... lets say a special friend were going through the city back home one night when we heard a scream down an alleyway. After giving a quick call to the authorities we made our way down to find a group of four college kids surrounding a girl with clear intentions of raping her." Ignoring Mint's expression I continued on. "I snuck up to them, picked up a discarded glass bottle and swung it at one of their heads. He was out like a light and the others took a... desperate approach at seeing they'd been caught."

Before I could stop it or force it away the memories of that night flowed into my head.

* * *

 _As the punk fell to the group in an unconscious slump the other three turned in our direction with frightened expressions._

" _Games are over boys." I spoke with a false tone of confidence as I stared them down. "The police are already coming this way so why don't we just come out and-"_

" _Get him!" one of the punks- the leader of the small group I guessed- pointed a shaking finger in my direction and the other two pounced at his words. The two lackeys- one with blond hair and the other with brown- quickly made their way to both my sides and simultaneously swung their fist in my faces direction._

 _Thankfully, they moved so slow that even an amateur like me was able to dodge their attacks easily enough by ducking and rolling to the side. The fists proceeded to hit each other and stun them for a moment which allowed me to get close to one of them and deliver a kick to the knee._

 _The guy fell in pain while I got back up quickly to deliver another strike to his unprotected head._

 _He collapsed to the ground out cold._

 _Suddenly a shadow appeared behind me and the other guy came to give a strike... only to be smacked to the side by a bin lid that 'she' held. After giving a second slam to the guys face for good measure 'she' gave a thumbs up._

 _It was then that everything went wrong. The leader had moved towards us while we were dealing with his goons and had drawn an old combat knife._

 _Said knife was now in 'her' back._

" _!" It had happened so fast I hadn't even noticed his approach. 'She' collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut and the rapist laughed out in insanity. It was by that point I noticed the needle points in his arm that indicated drug use but by then I didn't care._

 _He'd hurt 'her'._

 _He'd hurt 'her'._

 _HE'D HURT 'HER'!_

 _I moved before I could control myself. Rage pumped through my system and my vision became clouded by a thick haze. I didn't care over what may happen to me from this point onwards I was going to kill this son of a bitch!_

 _And so... my fist met his nose... and his knife met my chest._

* * *

"...We were taken to a hospital after that at an undetermined time frame." I state with my face looking towards the sand. "Because of the mad rush I ended up falling on top of the guy and lodging the knife deeper in and actually making it into my heart... my friend was really low on blood from the wound in her back- seemed the knife had been expertly maintained- due to a rare condition that prevented her blood from clotting and offered to transfer her own to mine since she had a blood type they didn't have enough of on hand... meaning it was due to horrid luck" I stopped there.

There was nothing more to be said.

"..." Mint said nothing; likely she was wishing she hadn't brought it up now so I did what I thought would be for the best...

I patted her head.

"H-huh!?"

"Don't look like that k? It happened a while ago and I've gotten over it. Yeah I miss her but there's no reason for you to act dejected like that."

"But-"

"No buts! Now cheer up or I'll force another embarrassing thought in your head!"

"You wouldn't-"

"Come to think of it seeing you in a bunny outfit serving everyone drinks might make for decent entertainment."

"Ah! Stop throwing such humiliating thoughts into my head!" She swung her tiny fists at my lotion soaked back but caused nothing but a light chuckle to leave me lips.

"That the best you can do Mint? You might want to take some lessons with Ranpha if your arms are that weak."

"Be quiet!" And so we continued this for a few minutes until she finally slumped to the ground in a huff and sent a glare my way.

I hadn't stopped laughing even as I finally put the shirt on when I was able to.

"...You done my lady~?"

"...I hate you William Johnson." Ouch, talk about blunt.

"Your words wound me; I'm not that bad am I?"

"You make Eonia look like a joke."

...Okay, that one physically hurt.

"Good~"

...I took my attention away from that abuser of words at that point and turned to where the animal pens. Figuring I had nothing better to do I got back to my feet and moved to Kuromies office so I could see the animals he kept- and perhaps ask the space whale if it could tell me anything.

"Will, isn't there a reason you came to find me?" I was brought to a complete halt when the Blancmanche heiress asked that question.

Damn it, I forgot my original purpose again!

"Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to take part in the picnic Milfie, Tact, Vanilla andI had come up with. Ranpha and Forte have already said yes so its just you left."

"I see... well I don't see why not. Just let me change back into some cloths and pick up some tea from the lounge and I'll be there."

"Great, that makes everyone. Objective complete!" I hastily told her that we're having the picnic in the park and the decided time before moving my original destination of the office building.

* * *

"...He really is an interesting person." Mint muttered softly to herself as she watched Will leave her sights and head through Kuromies office to the animal pens where Vanilla probably was.

Even from their first encounter in the lounge earlier she had been able to tell there had been something off about him; some sort of presence that made him different from others.

It was a difficult feeling for the young girl to describe but, if she were to it into words, she could easily say that it wasn't a bad feeling.

On the contrary it made her feel safe around him. It was almost like a cocoon in that it wrapped around her mind gently to offer protection from the outside while allowing her to grow on the inside. She was probably only able to feel this soothing presence because of her own physic powers which gave her a somewhat resistance to other forms of powers.

As an example she could easily resist her fathers telepathy when it tried to probe her mind and vice-versa.

It was the same here. She felt _something_ try to probe her mind when Will had touched her head earlier but with a light mental shove it had moved according to her wishes. It was only after that that she felt the cocoon type feeling of assurance. While it was possible the power was only emitting that feeling so that she would lower her guard and allow it in it was just as likely that since its usual method didn't work it chose to rely on a different method to acquire the same result.

Perhaps whatever he possessed was passive in nature and so couldn't be shut off even with the users wishes or even respond to the users intentions?

If that was the case then-

No, Mint wouldn't allow her mind to wander in that direction. It may have been that power that was making her think this but she was sure that, while an unknown, the person known as William Johnson could at least be trusted enough to not have to be confined in a cell with his limbs restrained at all times.

At the very least, the boy was open enough to admit to his past... if it was true. Something like that could have just as easily been a cover story and the emotion in his voice and face an elaborate act.

Something told her though that the young man couldn't act to save his life though so that option was thankfully out.

 _'In any case though, no matter if he is lying or hiding something keeping... a close eye on him is needed.'_

Yes, every cautionary measure was needed to make sure this unknown wouldn't cause trouble down the line... it definitely had nothing to do with how warm his hand had felt on her head or how her heart had jumped in her chest at seeing his naked chest.

Nope, definitely not... really.

* * *

...After I finally managed to convince the nano machine user to calm down after finding her next to the space rabbits and playing with them for five minutes we noticed on a nearby clock that the time that it was time to head back to Milfies room to report that everyone was taking part. It was then my turn to drag the unwilling girl away from the adorable animals and out of the pens to say goodbye to Kuromie.

"Thanks for letting us stay with the animals Kuromie, I'll hopefully be able to come by later to help take care of them at a later date if that's alright with you."

"If that is your wish then I shall appreciate the help Will." I nodded and allowed Vanilla to wait over next to the pens for a minute while I turned my full attention on the young boy... at least I think he's only a young boy.

Can never tell with people on this ship.

"...In regards to your earlier question the space whale hasn't been able to determine anything based on what it has heard. It says it is sorry for being unable to help." A frown sat on the boys face and the baby whale on his shoulder- no idea how it manages to balance itself or how Kuromie can keep a whale on his shoulder and not complain or fall over- made a noise that suggested it was apologizing as well.

"Its fine, really." I said as a reassurance.

Earlier, before I went to talk to Vanilla, I'd asked the small boy to ask the space whale if it had felt anything and if it had what it was like. I'd asked this to see if it could maybe spread some light on who- or what- the woman that had sent me here was. It hadn't been Shatoyan, that much I was certain. The overall feeling of the holy mother hadn't been present in that persons approach.

Instead, it had felt like a combination of organic and synthetic; like maybe a cyborg or a person speaking through a crappy voice changer.

In the end I had no idea who that woman was so I'd asked for help to possibly discovering the truth.

Evidently, it hadn't worked.

"Anyway, we'd best we heading back to Milfie and Tact okay Vanilla?" Said girl gave a nod after- yes- grabbing my arm again. "see you later Kuromie."

"Yes, please come again Will; I'm sure the animals would appreciate it."

With that the pair of us headed back to C-deck.

* * *

 **And that's it guys. Damn, that chapter ended up being longer than I was expecting it to be- especially the end there- but it ended up just flowing out and writing itself so I just let things happen.**

 **Well, next chapter is the picnic so do look forward to that.**

 **Till then see you nex- *Cut off by the sound of the door being thrown open and Sora walking in with a look of anger***

 **Uh... you need something?**

 **Sora: When the hell do I make an appearance!?**

 **...When you did in the original.**

 **Sora: That's boring, do something else!**

 **No, I made you and I can easily delete you... REMEMBER THAT NEXT TIME YOU TRY TO ORDER ME AROUND!**

 ***Sora is thrown out the door by the sound waves created from my yell***

 **...Sorry about that everyone; please R &R and I'll see you next time.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone, this ones a bit shorter than the last one but that's to be expected as I never fully intended that one to be that long. Anyway, this ones about the picnic- and only the picnic- so do enjoy it.**

 **Lets begin!**

* * *

Chapter 5: How to enjoy a picnic (false)

"Great work Will! Now everyone can improve their bonds with each other!" Milfies smile really was contagious; before I knew it both Vanilla and me were smiling along with her as we made our way to the Elsior's park on A-Deck. In each of our hands were some form of supplies we were going to use for the picnic.

Tact and I were holding the various baskets Milfie had won in a raffle drawing earlier that had all the food.

Vanilla was holding a blanket that we were going to set everything down on.

Milfie... well seeing as she'd made all the food we'd agreed she didn't have to carry anything so she acting as a leader to take us to the park itself.

"Nothing to thank me for Milfie," I discarded her praise as I really hadn't done anything that was worth it. "I'm just glad everyone agreed to take part... now we'll be able to apologise to everyone for what happened earlier right Vanilla?"

"...Yes" Damn it, I could feel the sadness that she was feeling at the mention of that little tad bit. So far she'd only apologised to Milfie over her freak out as we'd agreed she'd say it to the rest when we got everyone together. Now though, with it about to happen, through this bizarre bond we seemed to have developed I can feel the insecurities she's feeling.

What if they don't forgive her?

What if they never want to see her again?

As the negative thoughts and the potential possibilities of this going wrong continuously flowed into her head my own mental state was starting to follow her line of thoughts.

"Don't worry about it okay? They'll definitely forgive you; I'm sure of it." I took the basket in my left hand and held it with the one in my right so I could pat the girls head for reassurance. I made sure to pour as much positive emotions through the 'link' as I could as I did this.

"...You're right, Will. I'm sure they will." The girl gave a relieved smile,as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders, in response to the efforts and the negative feelings I was picking up from her started to disappear.

Crisis averted... now if only the coup and the war with the Val-fasc could be that easy.

On the subject of the Val-fasc though... will my presence change anything in regards to them? On top of that what will change now that I've been thrown into this situation? In accordance to the butterfly effect even the smallest of things will cause big changes to the path you'll take.

As an example from the games depending on the results of the choices you make throughout you'll either increase their morale and affections for you or cause the morale to drop and have them grow distant.

Here however... this wasn't just a small change. The very act of throwing in a new variable as big as another player will cause dramatic changes to occur from here on out.

Will the battles become tougher?

Will there be more loss and destruction caused by the coup than originally?

Will things be able to be put in a more peaceful conclusion with the knowledge that the Black moon's interface is manipulating Eonia the whole time in order to join with the white moon?

There were numerous possibilities things could lead into. To many variables could be counted and rounded up to lead to new outcomes and endings that it would almost impossible to count them all.

Hell, I've already caused a massive stir on the Elsior. Vanilla has turned a complete 180 in personality due to this ability and I was suspect to believe that Tact and Milfie were also under the effects to some degree considering how much they seem to be trying to support me since I arrived.

It was turning into a big mess and I hadn't even been here a day... what was this, some fanfiction?

I suddenly felt the urge to slap myself at thinking such a thing. Even if one accounted to the belief that there were an infinite number of universes out there that made up the giant tree called existence the very idea that this, somewhere, was just a fanficiton created by a person too bored to come up with any original work that they could call their own was just plain ridiculous... right?

Right!?

* * *

...Eventually we made it to the park after another few minutes of walking through the Elsior's extensive corridors. As expected it looked as vibrant as the background art in the game displayed. Artificial grass littered everywhere but the stone pathway we walked on with various types of trees and greenery growing from various portion of the ground at the edge of my vision.

Like the whale room it was a rather relaxing looking place; one I'll hopefully be able to spend time in when I'm off duty from wherever I'll be placed.

Also as expected the other angels were already here. Ranpha had her arms folded with a slight peeved expression on her face. Mint had several rather large flasks in a small bag along with... an umbrella tucked under her unused arm. Anyway, Forte had a relaxed look on her face with her arms under her large breasts.

When she spotted us Ranpha walked over with seemingly heavy steps. "You're late you four! Honestly, you invite us to this then leave us hanging around waiting for you to move your slow feet!"

"Sorry sorry," I apologised of behalf of the group. "It look a bit longer than originally thought to pack everything up. Honestly it was a good thing Milfie had won as many baskets as she had less we'd have been a bit stuck."

At hearing those words Forte's face took a momentary dip in expression, Mint's smile became a little strained and Ranpha physically paled... geez, I get what that implies but you don't have to show your concern for what'll happen so bluntly in-front of the girl.

"I-is that so? Well, that's... good." Ranpha began releasing a bit of a sweat. "A-anyway, let's get going then." The blonde then proceeded to move ahead with stiff movement.

"R-Ranpha's right." Mint spoke up with her strained smile still in place. "Let's get this underway so we can enjoy Milfie's cooking." The small girl then went on to follow Ranpha.

"...Haa, guess I was right to worry after all." Was all Forte said as she went off to follow the other two.

...Well, that didn't seem to be a good start. I took a brief look at Milfie's direction who seemed to have become a bit disheartened at their responses. Tact- as he'll have not been told of the pinkette's luck right now- looked at the scene oblivious while Vanilla gave a blank look to the situation.

This isn't my problem... is what she was basically saying with that look.

I couldn't help but release a sigh at the current state of things.

This was indeed a mess.

* * *

A few minutes of looking for 'the perfect spot' to place the blanket down we eventually set everything down on a hill that overlooked a wide spread of different flowers that would probably be a great place for the animals in the whale room to frolic and play around in.

The tension between everyone was extremely tight. On one hand the three girls were keeping an extra eye on Vanilla and me while on the other their overall stance on the picnic seemed to have dropped at hearing of Milfie's earlier fortune. As a result of this the whole atmosphere was feeling rather awkward and difficult to actually say anything in.

"...Alright then," I sliced through that heavy tension like a knife through butter with my words. "Before we start... Vanilla and I would like to say something."

All eyes immediately turned to our direction. I somehow managed to keep a calm demeanour despite the stares from the three concerned girls- especially Ranpha who despite her earlier words was still giving me the evil eye- even as I patted the light green haired girl on the shoulder and helped her up.

Any signs of concern were gone, having taken my earlier words- despite how weak they actually were- to heart Vanilla faced the three remaining angels and bowed her head in apology.

"Everyone... I am sorry. What I almost did back at the lounge was unforgivable and an insult to you all who have only ever watched over me and treated me as a friend. For that reason... I can never apologise enough; for betraying that friendship." The girls looked shocked at the girls earnest apology. Ranpha's jaw was practically hanging off her mouth, Mint's eyes were as wide as they could stretch and Forte could only look on in silence.

"I'm sorry too." I took the opportunity to speak up in regards to my apology. "It's because of me that what happened did. For that reason even though I did resolve it before anything bad happened the very fact that it happened to begin with is by my fault alone... I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you all." I too bowed my head alongside the girl that still held me.

By this point everyone was looking at us in silence. Even Tact and Milfie were looking surprised at my words.

For the next few moments no one said a thing; Vanilla and I kept our heads down while we waited for the verdict of our teammates... huh, I called them teammates too even though I'm not part of the angel wing.

Odd.

Anyway, after half a minute passed Forte cleared her throat and patted both of our backs. "Oi oi, no need to go that far you two. Yeah what happened was bad but no one got hurt in the end right? With that being the case you guys don't need to bow your heads like that."

Mint spoke up next. "Forte's right, honestly; going this far... if you're really sorry about it then don't embarrass us like this with this kind of display.

"Yeah," Ranpha finally spoke up. "...I may have overreacted a little earlier-"

"Understatement." Forte interrupted.

Ranpha glared. "As I was trying to say, I overreacted a bit back there but this... this is going a bit too far in the apology department... damn it, I'm really not good at saying stuff like this!" The blonde proceeded to grab her hair in frustration at finding the lack of words.

"Then I'll say it for all of us." Mint spoke up after watching a few moments of Ranpha's antics. "Vanilla, Will... we forgive you; so please, raise your heads." A soft smile sat on the young bluenettes lips.

I gave Vanilla a similar smile and we allowed our heads to return to their original positions. The whole of the angel wing- as well as Tact- were giving genuine smiles to the pair of us. Those smiles spoke of acceptance, of friendship and trust... though that was probably more labelled towards to Vanilla than me.

Not that I minded though, to expect trust from everyone at this point was stupid.

"...Well, now that that's out of the way lets dig in!"

"Yes!"

* * *

...I admit defeat. While my own culinary skills couldn't be considered bad by any stretch- they had to be at least decent to feed me for the last year that I'd lived on my own- compared to the goddess of cooking that was Milfie I felt considerably crushed underfoot.

Her cooking was that good.

Everyone else seemed to be in agreement as they were happily munching on the various bits and bobs that the pinkette had made in the last half hour... something that was almost as impressive as the cooking itself.

The fact that she'd managed to make enough foods to fill five picnic baskets to the brink- even with the cafeteria staff helping on such short notice- was truly an astounding sight to see.

Back to the gang though, Milfie was currently having a rather lively conversation with Tact- I could smell chemistry in the air- over various topics that moved from what their home planets were like, their childhood, their hobbies and so forth.

Ranpha was happily devouring her Ranpha special; a spicy meal that had to have been made using the fires of hell itself- I'd know, my tongue was still numb from the heat it possessed from when I'd tried it just a few minutes ago.

Mint was elegantly drinking some of the fancy tea that she'd brought from the lounge with a small plate of pastries Milfie had made by her lap. To the side of her the umbrella was tucked away in such a place that it could be picked up at a moments notice.

Forte was enjoying the various types of food that had been spread out from the five baskets with... where'd she get that bottle of wine from? Had she brought that with her from her room or something?

Oh well, didn't matter. She wasn't likely to get drunk so it was alright.

And as for Vanilla and myself... the young angel was currently spoon feeding me some omelettes that had been declared the masterpiece out of the bunch of food by the cook herself.

Something I was rapidly agreeing with.

"Say Ah~" Making a cutesy expression that thankfully went unnoticed by everyone Vanilla presented the food with- oddly enough- a pair of chopsticks that had been brought for some reason. The presentation actually reminded me of those scenes from anime where the love interest feed the main character lunch.

Usually omelettes now that I thought about it.

What kind of convenience was this setup anyway?

"Ah" I happily opened my mouth and accepted the gesture; making sure to savour the food as much as I could while it slid down my throat.

It was really good.

"Oiya, getting a little intimate aren't we you two?" At the call of Forte's voice the pair of us broke from our private world and turned to the big breasted leader who possessed a purely teasing look on her face.

A nice change from the one she wore when we first met back in the gym.

"You think so? I think this type of relationship suits us." I replied without hesitation nor with a hint of embarrassment.

An eyebrow rose above Forte's head. "Those are some confident words there Johnson; any reason why you feel like that?"

"None, it just... feels right for whatever reason. I can't really describe it in words." I turned to the red eyed beauty- did I really just think that?- sitting besides me with a look that asked for her input.

"I... can't describe it either. I just feel... complete when I'm with and interacting with him. It I had to say anything about it though... is that its like something I never even knew I was missing has suddenly come back... and I never want to let it go." To emphasise she put the chopsticks down and wrapped both her arms around my left one.

I immediately understood what she meant. Just having the girl so close to me... it set my heart into a tranquil calm that I'd never felt before. Similar to the sensation I'd felt when she'd first taken a hold of me back in the infirmary it was a sensation that felt odd... but just right.

It truly felt like it was simply meant to be.

"Huh... I don't get it." The red head eventually admitted after a few moments of thinking. "I don't get it... but if you guys feel comfortable with it then no one can really complain. Just keep things to a minimum in-front of everyone okay? You're making Ranpha over there jealous with your lovey-dovey attitude towards each other."

Huh, making Ranpha jealous? I momentarily turned my gaze over to the Blonde martial artist who was conveniently eating from the package that held her specially made spicy hell. Nevertheless though I could feel some form of negative reaction whenever she thought I wasn't looking by sending a glare that basically read 'Stop flirting in public'.

That was my interpretation anyway.

"...Oops, we'll be sure to stop th-"

"Its fine." I was interrupted by Vanilla who gave a 'don't argue' gaze with increasing the grip of the arm again... she's really going to crush the bones herself if she keeps doing that... seriously, it was really starting to hurt.

What kind of hidden strength does this rather petite girl have!?

"...You heard her." Was my ultimate assessment.

"Heh, she's got you whipped already hey Johnson?" Please don't say things like that with a straight face that's clearly suppressing laughter.

I'd feel better if you actually laughed at the situation

At hearing Mints giggling though I immediately regretted my decision.

Damn telepath.

"How rude, its not nice to say such things Will." The small girl scolded me with a light-hearted expression her face. It was hard to get mad after seeing it.

"Don't read my mind whenever you feel like it then; I'd think that's far ruder." I instead gave a laid back reply while leaning backwards to fall into the artificial grass that still felt comfy to lay on.

Vanilla quickly accompanied me down and used the arm she was holding as a pillow.

"...And now you're just ignoring me in favour of your earlier flirting... it seems you're the rude one in the end."

...Don't make that explanation with a victorious smirk on your face as if to say you'd won something from it. In response to that thought Mint gave a playful huff and went back to drinking her tea.

I could tell she was smiling though.

"...Well just don't overdo it okay?" Forte eventually asked before getting back to her wine... she wasn't actually going to get drunk right?

Oh well, not my problem in the end. If she gets drunk then oh well but she gives off the feeling that she can handle her drink so she was probably going to be fine.

At any rate, I turned my attention back to the green haired girl who was picking up the chopsticks again even while lying down and managing to pick up another omelette that she presented to me.

I happily indulged her.

* * *

"Hello everyone, do you mind if we join in?" A few minutes of feeding each other- yes I did it too- we heard a familiar voice speak up. After getting ourselves back into a upright position we spotted Dr Cera and several groups of crewmen walking up to the hill with bags of what was presumably food and drinks.

It seems Milfies luck was about to bring about the festival into play.

After having a brief chat with Milfie Dr Cera and the crewmen began setting their stuff out and began mingling amongst themselves. Naturally the two of us gained a few looks but I ignored them in favour of watching the genuine cheerfulness that the crew were exhibiting. It was truly a heart-warming sight seeing everyone act like this despite the current events happing around the empire.

This... I wanted to protect this peaceful atmosphere, these festivities, as much as I could. At some point during the watching A blonde hair woman wearing the overall look of an engineer came up with a few more workers with bags of their own under their arms.

It seems Creta, the head engineer of the Elsior, had shown up already.

"Oh, there you are Vanilla... and hello as well Will." At some point Dr Cera had come over with a smile on her face and a piece of chicken in her hands. "I was wondering if you were actually here considering your usual stance on things like this but I guess Will here managed to keep you from going hmm?"

"Haha, you could say that Doc." I admitted sheepishly. "We've honestly been... attached," I gestured to our link arms. "Since we left the infirmary minus to when she was on standby on the Harvester so yeah, I've been keeping her busy since I woke up."

Dr Cera didn't seem to know what to say in response to that so she changed topics. "I see... well, I'll be expecting to see you around the infirmary a lot more in the future considering that you've been made my temporary assistant by the commander."

Oh? So Tact had gone to her at some point to ask if it was possible... it brought a smile to my face hearing that. He really was a great guy.

"That so? Well then, please treat me kindly for the duration of the trip to Rhome then doc." I presented my free arm to shake hands.

Cera took it with the same smile she'd been wearing throughout. "Indeed, I'll be counting on you as well." With that the doctor went off back to the festivities.

"...So you'll be working in the infirmary from now on?" Vanilla asked after a few moments of silence.

"Guess so, Tact asked what I'd be good at in regards to what I'll be able to help with while I'm here and since I'm a former med student he must have thought I'd do good there. You usually help out there right?" A nod. "Then we'll be working together from now on too."

"Yes, I'll be looking forward to it." We exchanged a smile before lying back down to enjoy the peace by ourselves...

Until.

"Wah!?" A sudden sprout of water came down onto us as the sprinkler system activated.

Dammit I forgot about this!

"Come on!" Not even waiting for a call from anyone I dragged the girl hanging onto my arm out of the park.

* * *

Damn, despite running as fast as I could the two of us were still soaked to the brim. Fortunately the materials the uniforms were made of didn't go transparent when wet otherwise things would have become extremely awkward.

Unfortunately we were still wet no matter what the uniforms were made of.

"You alright?" I asked Vanilla who gave a nod. "Good... seriously though what happened? It didn't look like the sprinklers broke or anything so what caused the shower?"

Mint, with her still dry hair and uniform as the umbrella she'd brought with her had ended up coming in handy, was the one to answer. "It seems the barbecue some of the crew put up set off the smoke alarms... a result of Milfie's luck I'd suspect." A murmur of agreement was heard from the rest of the angels- even Vanilla- which caused the pinkette to look down in apology.

"I'm sorry..."

"Hey, back off girls." Tact spoke up in defence. "There's no way of saying Milfie's luck caused it for sure; it could have happened because of-"

"Coincidence? With Milfie's luck anything can happen- be it good or bad- so when I heard Milfie had won those baskets earlier I was worried... guess I was right too."

Ranpha nodded vigorously. "Yep yep, Her lucks always been like that ever since I first met her and probably before."

"...I'm sorry." The pinkette apologised again with her head hung low.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Before anything more could be said on the subject the alarm suddenly rang. And here they come...

"You guys can finish this later; right now I think dealing with the enemy that seems to have shown up takes top priority right now right?" I finally spoke up to diffuse the situation with a stern expression.

There really wasn't time for this now. The angels seemed to understand that as they went off without another word down to D-deck. Vanilla gave a small pout before releasing my arm and heading off.

I guess she realised she'd never get away with dragging me down there with her.

"I'll head down to the infirmary if that's alright with you Tact; that is my new post after all right?" The commander gave a nod and headed off to the bridge with a serious expression on his face.

I moved to reach D-deck with due haste immediately afterwards.

* * *

 **Well that's pretty much it everyone. Sorry if you felt the picnic part was a little lacking here- especially when you consider I've already shown they'll be third person pov's throughout this thing- but I wanted this to be purely focussed on the growing couple- come on, its in the bloody tags- so this is what we got.**

 **Next chaps going to deal with the new introduction for Lightbringer and the first fighting part of the story... yeah, look forward to reading my crappy ass fight scenes =(**

 **Anyway, please R &R and I'll see you next time. **


	7. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone and welcome back. Not much to say here so lets just get on with it shall we?**

* * *

Chapter 6: Unit 8 take flight!

As I wondered through the halls of D-deck on the way to the infirmary the thoughts I'd had earlier on the changes that'll be made come to my head once more. It may seem rather redundant to focus on that particular topic again but again, the possibilities were endless in what could end up happening in regards to the overarching 'story' that is being played out.

Though perhaps the biggest question that has appeared so far will be what role will I play in it all. To state the obvious there had to be a reason as to why I- hell, anyone from Earth- was dragged into the middle of the conflicts that were to play out in the coming year (though that may change as well).

What was Earth's overall place in this conflict? Was it perhaps a system that had been colonised by the empire of EDEN or perhaps just a backwater that was floating somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the vast universe... though that theory could be considered false considering the Val-fasc hadn't invaded the planet for its resources yet.

Was it being protected by something perhaps, like a planetary-wide barrier that kept the fleet out?... nah, disregarding that they'd probably use some of their superior technology to destroy it why would EDEN choose to protect a relatively primitive planet- compared to them anyway- with such a device instead of one of their own systems?

In the end, it really was a mystery, one worthy of being solved by a certain detective of baker street...

Okay, that might be going a little too far but oh well.

In any case, I was just about to cross the door that I think led into the hanger when I suddenly felt the urge to stop.

There was no reason for this, there was no noise other than the alarm being rung repeatedly in my ears and there was no strange presence like the one that mystery woman had given off... so why did I feel the need to stop?

 _'...o...ou...em...ra...wa...ou.'_

From out of nowhere the sound of static broke its way into my hearing and brought me to my knees as it threatened to shatter my eardrums. Throughout it all though I thought I could pick out some form of voice or message coming through but the sound of the static wrecked my hearing so much that I could barely make out more than a few clips of what could be words.

Worry began creeping up my spine though when the voice and the message continued to be spoken; it seemed whatever was broadcasting the message could tell I hadn't heard it and so continued with a louder, more commanding tone that the pain to my ears were immediately forgotten and I could focus on only the words.

 _'go...our...blem...fra...wait...you.'_

When I heard it again the overall message came out all the more clearer but was still inaudible in some places in the middle. I'd managed to catch the words 'go' at the beginning and 'you' at the end as well as guess the words spoken after and before those first words respectively.

At the moment I was getting the sentence 'Go, your...blem...fra awaits you' but that was it. Your something blem fra something awaits you?

Emblem frame? Is that what is was saying? Your emblem frame awaits you... there's an emblem frame in the hanger waiting for me?

Just as I started pondering that possibility the voice finally seemed to completely break through whatever the static was and spoke its full sentence loud and clear:

 _'Go, your emblem frame awaits you.'_

...So I was right, it was referring to an emblem frame. That brings up another question though, why was there an emblem frame in the Elsior's hanger if it wasn't being used yet? Why would it have been taken out of the white moon's weapons storage area if they had no pilot for it?

Was that mysterious woman the cause of it? Had they managed to convince Shatoyan to load this mysterious emblem frame because I would arrive to use it?

...That fanfiction theory is becoming all that more probable every time something weird happens.

At any rate, the hanger was right next to me; surely taking a quick look wouldn't-

No! That was a really bad idea. My position here was still unstable and could easily be turned on its head with me locked up for doing something I shouldn't.

Entering the hanger, without permission, during a battle would certainly count as a big no no in regards to that.

In the end I was just a civilian; doing as I was told and heading to my temporary post in the infirmary was by safest and smartest bet if I wanted to be treated without suspicion by every one.

And yet... the curiosity to see if what the voice- who by now I recognised as the mysterious woman's- said was true was quickly becoming a dominant centre in my thoughts. This was bad, as they say curiosity killed the cat and with Forte's words hanging over my threat that may be my fate if I abide it.

But still... the thought of piloting my own emblem frame-

Stop it me!

I slapped my face a few times to bring myself back to reality; no matter how cool it would be I would be dragged into a battlefield with no knowledge on how to properly pilot what I was flying.

I was more likely to crash and blow myself up then succeed or be blown up by the enemy.

Not a nice- or honourable- way to go out all in all.

I was at an impasse. To my left was the hanger door and straight ahead of me was the way that lead to the infirmary where Dr Cera was waiting for me. What seemed like an obvious decision in regards to a video game or a visual novel protagonist for a regular person like me the choice over whether to follow that persons words or not would change something.

It was clear this was a big choice for me to make. It was obvious that woman wanted me to make it now.

Would I continue to act the role of an uninvolved citizen of Transbaal... or would I take up the true role that had been decided for me?

It was a tough choice, a very tough choice, but in the end...

* * *

Tact looked towards the ongoing battle between the angel wings and the enemy fleet that had been left as a safeguard to catch anyone that managed to get this far away from the net.

There were currently seven of them surrounding the narrow space that was the battlefield; right between two asteroids. Directly in-front of them was a destroyer positioned at both ends of the gap between the asteroids and one that sat in the middle of the formation along with a cruiser. Further back two more cruisers and another destroyer moved to back up their allies by heading the Elsior's way.

In total there were four destroyers and three cruisers.

That had been the setting at the start of the battle. Now three of the four destroyers and one of the cruisers were gone. In other words the initial enemy had been dealt with. Now the emblem frames were making their way towards the remaining foes that were for some reason sticking around the narrow intersection between the two asteroids.

Tact intuition sent alarms ringing through his head but he had no choice but to ignore it; even if a trap was set up in that particular area the only way they could go was forward.

They would have to go through that area regardless of their wishes.

And so the emblem frames moved to annihilate the remaining opposition and-

"AH! Kung-fu fighters has been brought down to 20%!" Coco's sudden announcement shook Tact to his feet in shock. On a monitor a video of the last few seconds showed a laser being shot from a unseen angle towards the red emblem frame and just grazing the side.

Just a single shot, one that hadn't even been a direct hit, and yet it caused the kung-fu fighter to be thrown backwards through the vacuum of space like a doll would be lightly tossed around by a child as they ran around the house with it with sparks coming from the armour and creating a fire around the damaged hull.

"What... just happened...?" Tact barely caught Almo's whisper of shock and unconsciously found himself nodded in agreement to the question; because really, what _had_ just happened.

While it was certainly true Ranpha's emblem frame had the weakest armour among them all to compensate for its speed a simple scratch shouldn't have been able to damage an it to that extent no matter the weapon.

At least no weapon the spiky haired commander could think of.

"A- at any rate, angel wings; retreat from your current position!" He quickly yelled out his orders in desperation to prevent another wound like that befalling another one of the angels.

That attack had been just a scratch, so what would a full hit do to any of the emblem frames?

Tact had no intentions of finding out and so ordered the retreat. The angel wings quickly agreed and moved away from the intersection between the two asteroids for around 4000 kilometres.

That was when the mysterious weapon fired a single laser once more.

This time the attack was aimed towards the trick master- Mint's emblem frame- and that too only grazed the surface of the ships armour...

The armour was brought down to 20% once more.

As Mint's screams echoed through the comm link that was present between the bridge and each of the angel wings Tact felt sweat begin to pour down his forehead. The situation wasn't good; once again they hadn't managed to track just where the laser had come from but wherever it was it seemed to possess an extraordinary range; as the original shot had been fired when the angel wings were around 2000 kilometres away from the intersection.

Add in the 4000 distance that had been made and the current range seemed to be at least 6000 kilometres.

That was insane, only the missile launchers on the trick master had that kind of range but this mysterious laser had managed to match that.

"O-oi, Tact! What should be do!?" Lester's normally cool tone was lost and replaced with raw panic at the current situation. Tact couldn't blame his best friend for it; nothing seen so far had shown capability of being able to do this so naturally surprise was the expected reaction to come from people.

He didn't have the liberty to experience that normal emotion however; as the commander it was his job to bring up a strategy to break through this new obstacle.

And so...

"Coco, have you determined the origin point of that laser yet?" He turned to the officer in charge of radar with a look of steel in his eyes.

"Y-yes, the origin point appeared to be originally under some form of stealth field generator that managed to hide from our radar but the laser seems to have caused it to stop functioning."

In order words the stealth fields only purpose was to create a situation where the lasers origin- probably a remote turret set up on the edge of one of the asteroids- could deliver a perfect sneak attack on unsuspecting ships that managed to dodge the original destroyers and cruiser.

However, for one reason or another the laser had missed, only grazing the target instead. Could it be there was a problem with the targeting matrix?

Or had it been set deliberately to function as a warning shot; to say that resistance was futile?

Either way, they were lucky.

"Bringing up the origin point on screen now." An instant later Tact discovered two new facts:

For one he'd been right that the 'turret' had been set up on the edge of the asteroid.

Second... the 'turret' wasn't exactly a turret... actually, he didn't exactly know how to describe what he was seeing on the screen.

Okay, in actuality what he was seeing was a giant sphere made of steel that from the data on the monitor stood at 50 metres tall with seven- yes, _seven_ \- cannons on its back all connected to an 'arm' that were all levelled towards the retreating angels. As stated earlier the main body was in a spheric shape with it being supported by a reverse Y-shape undercarriage.

It was one of the most bizarre creations Tact had ever seen... but he knew that it was an effective and merciless weapon.

In response to the second attack the angels continued to move away from the intersection- well, happy trigger (Forte) and Harvester (Vanilla) continued to move, Ranpha and Mint continued to fly as they needed to be repaired.

Something the green haired angel immediately began doing as they managed to get around 10,000 kilometres away from the weird 'object' that had the seven laser cannons.

Within no time at all the two damaged frames were back in complete condition... but that didn't change the situation. They were facing a new weapon with far superior range that could take out an emblem frame in a single shot.

In short, they were stuck and at the mercy of that 'object'.

"Tact... what now? the emblem frames aren't capable of attacking that thing without getting hit first and with that laser moving at the speed of light they can't dodge it." Tact took the words his best friend said to heart as he continued the analyse the picture of the sphere.

There had to be something... perhaps, if she was willing, Ranpha could perform dodging manoeuvrers to prevent the sphere from getting a lock? After all, that attack seemed to travel in a straight line so as long as it couldn't target it should be fine right?

Or perhaps they could have Forte's happy trigger- the ship with the most armour and firepower- take a charge with the other angels covering her with Vanilla continuously repairing everyone the moment they were hit?

No, the girls would probably hate that plan.

Then maybe-

"Hey Tact, mind filling me in on what's going on?" At the sound of familiar voice Tact raised his head back to the monitors...

To discover Will sitting in the cockpit of an emblem frame!

"Will!? What are you doing!?"

* * *

Earlier

...Hang on, hadn't the woman that had sent me here say something about implementing 'needed knowledge' in my head?

Yeah, she'd definitely said that and that was why I'd gained a headache during the encounter. Was it possible that the needed knowledge was the instructions and knowledge in piloting this mysterious emblem frame?

If anything, it was worth a check. It was that fact that led to me entering the hanger instead of moving towards the infirmary.

...In the end I'd decided to play that woman's game.

As expected the hanger was huge, easily spamming over several hundred metres in length and height to contain the five emblem frames that were stationed here. Tucked in at the far back was some form of control tower that was probably used to operate the hanger doors and serve as something similar to the control towers found in airports.

It was in a space that seemed almost hidden away at the very edge of the hanger that I found what I was looking for.

Sitting there just gathering dust was a silver emblem frame that was shaped into a giant condor with both of its wings holding a missile launcher and rail gun as well as seemingly holding a hidden compartment which probably held some kind of explosive charges. Connected to the back was a form of shield that was looped over the engines and the cockpit set up directly below it.

All and all I found it a beautiful piece of machinery.

"Hey, who are you?" I broke off from looking at the beautiful ship at hearing the voice of Creta who was looking at me in suspicion.

No surprising seeing as we hadn't spoken yet.

"William Johnson, the guy you picked up earlier." I said for around the dozenth time now- nice exaggeration me- before taking my focus back to the silver frame. It was... odd; just looking at it sparked some form of connection within me.

This machine was mine, this beautiful creation of steel belonged to me and me alone... it was that kind of feeling.

"What's her name?" I ended up asking after a few moments of silence.

"...We don't have a name for her. No one's been able to get her to work ever since she was discovered with the rest of the emblem frames. All we have are her specs and the unit number: GA008."

008... unit 8. An unknown, completely new emblem frame that hadn't existed within the game. Another new variable that had been thrown into the mix of this coup for reasons probably known only to that mysterious woman.

And it was mine.

"Is that so? Well then, lets see if she rejects me as well." Ignoring Creta's objections and warnings I moved straight towards the unknown frame and placed a single hand onto the armour.

What happened next shook me to the core.

 _'Registration of pilot initiated._

 _Subject: William Haraway_

 _Mental state: happy, if slightly confused with traces of shock... acceptable_

 _Current status of compatibility with GA008: approximately 30%_

 _...compatibility registered as acceptable for current situation._

 _Powering up systems; please enter the pilots seat master Haraway'_

 _..._ I stood stiff as a statue with my jaw hanging out in shock. The voice that had come from the unknown frame... had sounded _far_ too familiar to be a simply coincidence. The softness of the tone, the slight trace of amusement when addressing my mental state, the overall light-heartedness...

It could only be the voice of Hikari; the girl that had died in that story I told Mint.

As if that wasn't enough to raise an eyebrow over the fact that it had used my Mothers maiden name instead of my fathers was extremely strange.

As was the fact that this AI- for what else could it be?- knew my name; as if I were in its database.

How?

With these questions running through my head I entered the opened cockpit on autopilot and sat down into the chair; allowing the HALO system above my head to run its magic.

Within half a minute we were out the hanger... wait, what!? Considering Creta's earlier objections there was no way she was going to authorise me leaving the hanger within the emblem frame so how-

 _'Worry not, master.'_ Hikari's- no, the AI's voice spoke up once more. _'It was relatively straight forward to hack into the Hanger controls.'_

'Don't admit to such things like it was a walk in the park!'

 _'...Have I performed an incorrect action master?'_ The voice suddenly became rather sad and acted just the way Hikari's saddened one did. _'I... I was merely performing the best course of action that existed in that situation. In order to assist the predecessor units we needed to leave and hacking seemed the most effective solution. Was I... wrong?'_

A pressure that I hadn't felt in two years came over my heart. Despite the voice coming from a machine and not her just hearing Hikari's sad voice was pulling at chord strings in my heart that were making me want to beg for forgiveness for making the ship upset... wait a second.

How the heck did the AI hear that!? I hadn't said it out loud so-

 _'Quite simple Master, from the moment you connected to me we became able to speak with each other through your mind... think of it as a telepathic conversation between two psychics.'_

'...So only I can hear you then?'

 _'Correct, though it may be possible for Miss Blancmanche to enter the conversation as well due to her abilities as a telepath.'_

'I see... so what kind of combat abilities does this emblem frame possess?'

 _'As shown from the wings the GA008- no known name is currently available for this unit yet- possesses both missile and railgun armaments on each of its wings that possess a range of 4000 kilometres as well as explosive charges that are utilised by the spirit metre. In addition to those weapons and the shield that protects the rear of the frame the railguns can be swapped out to equip laser cannons to pierce through enemy armour- also at a range of 4000 kilometres._

'I see.'

I nodded to myself as I heard the information. In simple terms it was a frame that was build for multiple situations while focussing on defence to the rear... in other words it was a ship made to perform a quick hit-and-run tactic like an assassin. This probably meant that it was built to be fast and so didn't possess as much armour as it could similar to Ranpha's kung-fu fighter.

Hmm... if that's true then I'll have to be careful while in battle in avoid being surrounded. My role is to sabotage the enemy not face them head no after all.

...Damn it, I'm already getting into the idea of fighting even though I should be nervous as heck right now in regards to what everyone will be thinking and saying.

...Oh well, I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it. For now dealing with the problem of the enemy is more important.

With that in mind I turn on a comm call to the Bridge.

"Hey Tact, mind filling me in on what's going on?"

"Will!? What are you doing!?" His shock spoke for itself but I didn't have time to worry about it.

"Let's talk about this later k? I think dealing with whatever's going on is more important; don't you?"

"...Alright, we've hit a snag with an unknown enemy turret being placed on the surface of one of the asteroids." He quickly explained realising arguing wouldn't accomplish anything. "Its laser fire can pierce through and heavily damage any of the emblem frames while also possessing a long range of at least 6000 kilometres... both Ranpha and Mint have both taken just scratches from the attack and were both brought down to 20%."

...Damn, I didn't think such a thing was possible but already the fights have become hard as hell!

It was while thinking that that I was sent the data and image of the unknown turret... I was hit with yet another shock.

"B-Baby magnum!?" Yes, the main spherical body, the seven main cannons hanging on the back, the reverse Y undercarriage. What else could this be but the first generation object called the baby magnum!? [1]

"Huh, you recognise it?"

"...Yeah, it looks eerily similar to a super weapon described in a sci-fi novel I read once; though it was designed to fight on a planets surface instead of in space."

At hearing this Tact went into thinking mode which allowed me time to think of why the enemy would choose such a model. While it was true in the universe of where objects existed they were considered synonymous of war but it made no sense to have them here.

And yet here one was... and it was proving to be a difficult obstacle.

A single blast from the main gun could critically damage an emblem frame by merely scratching it, a direct hit would probably destroy the frame in one shot. On top of that it possessed an insane range...

The question was, what to do?"

 _'Master?'_ I could hear Hika-... the AI's concern echoing through my head but I paid it no mind.

In order to beat an object you have to be smart. Even if I wasn't just a flesh and blood soldier like the protagonists in that series and was instead in an emblem frame one false step would have me eating laser fire and going out in a blaze of shame.

Think, think, THINK!

...Hang on, what's up with the cannons? Giving a quick order to Hikari to enlarge the current image of the baby magnum brought me to seeing two broken cannons out of the seven main ones. Judging from how the material used to make them seemed to be melted off it could be assumed that the cause had been...

Ah, got it.

A smile crept onto my face as a plan came together.

"Tact, it seems this thing wasn't made properly. See the cannons? A single shot caused the whole thing to melt."

The spiky-haired man took a quick look before his eyes widened in realisation. It seems he came to the same conclusion as me.

"That means..."

"That thing only has five shots left before the main guns are all gone." I finished.

It was a simple design flaw; in order to maximise the power of the lasers they had neglected to fully create the armour or provide the materials needed to withstand the heat of the laser itself. Therefore whenever one of the cannons fired it became inoperable afterwards.

It was a literal case of a glass cannon; extremely powerful but little else in terms of combat.

Still, that meant that beating it was possible. If a emblem frame with the necessary speed to dodge the laser fire until either the object ran out of shots or until they managed to get within range of their own guns then it was victory...

Hang on, wasn't _my_ frame built with speed in mind?

"...I've got it Tact." I finally spoke up after a few moments of contemplation. "My emblem frame was built to prioritise speed to sabotage enemy units so that the others could deal with the main threat. I could easily act as a decoy and dodge the cannons until they were all gone or try and take them out myself. Your call commander."

Tact didn't say anything for a few moments. He seemed to be weighing the pros and cons of either option in his head.

On one hand he didn't have to risk using more than one emblem frame by solely relying on me... and on the other hand he would have to rely on an untested, unreliable pilot.

In terms of pure strategy relying solely on me was the better option as it was a one over the many type thing.

In terms of personal feelings it was risking the life of a new friend- and a civilian to boot.

It was probably a difficult decision to make... but we didn't have time to dilly-dally. Rezom and his reinforcements were going were going to appear sooner or later and if we were still dealing with the 'object' by that time then we were going to be in serious trouble with a true pincer attack coming from both sides.

It was just when I was going to announce that I was going that Tact finally spoke once more. "Alright... I've decided to count on you for this Will. While Ranpha could probably do the same thing she's still a bit shaken from the earlier attack; with that being the case we've only got you to rely on."

I nodded in acceptance. "Got it, I'll be sure to deal with this as quickly as I can."

"Alright, just be extremely careful got it?" I gave another nod which signalled the end of the conversation. Tact shut off the chat and allowed me to concentrate on the daunting task before me.

I could feel sweat begin to pour down my brow as my nerves began acting up in worry. There was a serious chance I was going to die here. There was a serious chance of me blowing up in flames at the slightest mistake.

...But I couldn't back down here. I'd chosen this path and I was going to see it through to the end. With that feeling in mind I got GA008 moving towards the target... I'm seriously going to have to name it when this was done.

Regardless, the next minute consisted of just me flying towards the bridge in-between the two asteroids in silence; no other channels from the angels opened up and the AI stayed silent throughout that tense minute.

It was when I reached the 6000 mark that things picked up.

The moment I entered that range the camera following the actions of the 'object' showed the giant sphere moving its main cannon in aiming directly at my position and firing a single shot towards me.

I narrowly dodged the shot in its entirety by the skin of my teeth.

As expected the cannon that had fired appeared to have melted down upon firing the laser.

Four shots left.

I clenched my hands around the joystick type steering controls and continued moving forward. I twirled around the area in several 360 spins in an attempt to throw off the 'objects' aim while moving slightly from side to side to further confuse the aiming mechanisms.

This seemed to work slightly as not a single shot was fired for the next 1000 kilometres.

5000 to go until we were next to each other. 1000 more until I was in range with my own weapons.

Then the fourth shot rang out through the emptiness of space and I was sent flying as I was grazed on one of the wings; critically damaging the exterior of it and all but destroying the guns on that wing.

Thankfully the explosive charges within didn't ignite otherwise I probably wouldn't have survived.

Pain, a dull pain came to acquaint itself with my head as the shaking of the frame caused me to bang against the controls.

A faint trail of blood fell from where I'd hit it but I didn't have time to deal with that. The hull was down to- you guessed it- 20% and half of my available weapons were gone.

The insult to the injury? I was still in the 6000 range so Vanilla couldn't come and heal me. With that being the case I immediately began moving once more just in time to avoid the fifth shot.

Two left... and a strike from either one- graze of otherwise- meant death.

Definitely feeling the pressure now.

 _'Master, please allow me to-'_

"You don't need to do anything right now." I cut off whatever it wanted to say while moving to dodge the sixth shot.

One left.

"Just one left... C'mon!" I burst forward; having the chrono string engine move at its maximum speed I charged ahead.

5000

4800

4600

4400

4200

4000-

It was fired, the moment I entered attacking distance with my railguns and missiles the final shot was fired. I twisted and turned the frame with all my might and...

I was blown away, not from the laser striking me... but from the frame being pushed aside as the familiar image of the harvester took the laser shot head on with its shield.

An explosion set me flying at an accelerated rate while the harvester was sent flying in the opposite direction. By some sheer miracle it hadn't exploded- maybe the shield had managed to defract the light coming from the laser somewhat?- but it was obvious just from viewing it with the human eye that it was seriously damaged. Flames sprouted from where the circular shield was and the lack of movement from the thrusters showed they were offline.

The harvester had well and truly shut down.

"VANILLA!" I moved in an instant; using nothing but a pure sense of will I managed to cease the movement of the frame before blasting it forward towards the harvester at the fastest speed I could muster.

Everyone else must have heard the plan from Tact and so had been counting the number of shots as they were all moving to the 'object' but I paid them little mind.

All I could focus on was the green haired girl that had clung to me for the last hour.

She had to be alight.

She had to be alright.

SHE HAD TO BE ALIGHT!

 _'Master, please calm yourself; I am detecting life signs from predecessor unit GA005 meaning the pilot is still alive.'_ At the AI's words I felt immediate relief. Sh-...it was right; acting like this will probably only make things worst.

I have to keep calm less I make that girl worry.

By the time I'd made it to the Harvester and managed to get it to stop it seemed the rest of the girls had managed to destroy the 'object' and were mopping up the rest of the fleet. With the knowledge that I was safe to move the ship for the time being I used the still operable wing to drag the damaged frame as slowly as I could towards the Elsior.

* * *

 **Well, that's the end of the chapter guys... told you the fight would suck.**

 **[1]: The baby magnum, for those who don't know, is a product from the light novel/anime heavy object which was create by Kazuma Kamachi; the writer of to aru majutsu no index. I do not own it.**

 **Anyway, stay tuned for next time where I'll have Shiva's debut and we deal with the ramifications of Will's choice.**

 **Until then, see you next time.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chap. Another long one here- scrapping 8k here- so please enjoy it... I'm sorry if some of you don't like longer chapters but in my defence I wanted to get Shiva's intro out of the way like I said in the authors notes of the last chap and things just kept on being added in as things went on...**

 **Oh well. Lets get on with things.**

* * *

Chapter 7: To meet a variety of characters

The instant the two of us made it into the hanger- which hadn't been easy with Vanilla being unconscious- we were immediately dragged to the infirmary by concerned crew members and placed onto separate beds next to each other.

As expected Dr Cera had a both a frown and a look of worry on her face. The frown was obviously thrown at me for the stunt I'd pulled.

The worry spoke for itself.

"Well... I hope this actually got the message through you to not jump into this with no experience." Was what she eventually said after treating my head wound and moving over to look at Vanilla; a sight that filled me with self-loathing.

It had been my fault this had happened. Even with the knowledge of how to pilot the emblem frame in my head I lacked the experience to pull off things flawlessly.

And Vanilla had paid for it. The green haired girl had several gashes across her face- each with their own trails of blood. Both of her arms had been twisted into unnatural angles and her chest was dyed red through the uniform.

I really didn't want to see the damage their- that and I wanted to preserve the girls modesty- so I immediately looked away when the Doc moved to remove her clothing to inspect the damage.

The gasp of horror that rang out was an indication that I'd made the right choice.

"How bad is it doc?"

"...Do you really want to know?" While an expected response it still served to stab into chest like a knife. The guilt was causing pain within my chest and tears were beginning to stream down my face.

I had to see it.

I had to see what I'd caused.

Steeling myself for the sight I was about to see I turned my head back towards Vanilla... and immediately wanted to vomit.

Her chest... was practically non-existent. Both flesh and bone had been burnt away by the intense heat of the fired laser even though it hadn't caused a breach in the cockpit to reveal nothing but thankfully spared organs. The laser must not have been close enough to cause damage to them... or perhaps they'd been protected by her nano machines.

Either way, she was certainly very lucky to be alive right now... but that wouldn't last. There was no way the Elsior had the necessary medical equipment to properly fix her up and she wasn't in any condition to use her nano machines right now...

Damn it, is there really nothing we can do here!?

I felt like hitting myself as Cera continued to work through some pointless medical examinations over the injury. Again, while I wasn't a licensed doctor it was pretty obvious that there was nothing that could be done to fix her up in our current predicament.

Had we been over Transbaal or maybe at Rhome we could have done something but in the middle of nowhere it was hopeless!

Damn it damn it DAMN IT!

"...Huh?" My self loathing was cut short at the sight of a familiar green light suddenly lighting up the room while Cera was in the middle of a medical procedure that I wasn't paying attention to. It came so suddenly that neither of us had proper time to prepare and so became disoriented for a few moments.

When I regained control of my sight I came face to face... with Vanilla's nano machine pet. The little creature that had taken the appearance of a rabbit took a quick look at me before it began clawing at my hand; seemingly attempting to drag it closer to itself.

I looked at the small creature in confusion for a few moments before shrugging and placing my hand on its head. What followed was another flash of light before the creature split into individual particles and _slid up my extended arm_.

"..." I gazed at the hand for a few moments; what the heck had just happened?

Why had the nano machines reacted like that? It'd reacted the same way it would to Vanilla so-

Ah, is that it?

An idea, an incredibly stupid and unlikely idea popped into my head. Taking a single last glance at my hand in wonder for a moment I got out of the bed and get over moved to stand above Vanilla's. Closing my eyes so that I could focus everything onto that hand I placed it over the green haired girls chest and concentrated.

If I were to describe what happened next to would be that the sensation of feeling the nano machines slid down my arm was akin to having a trail of warm but not too hot water flow down your skin; it was pleasant and cleansing; it felt like all my worries were being washed away by the flow of nanoparticles.

Despite that sensation though I couldn't help but feel the sweat pour down my brow as my body began heating up as the process continued.

I had no talent in controlling nano machines; therefore what I was doing should have been impossible.

The only reason it was possible was because Vanilla had seemingly giving permission for me to use hers but was that true?

Was this another aspect of this mysterious bond I'd made with Vanilla? Had whatever I'd done bound us together far close then I could possibly figure out?

Or maybe-

"!" The feeling of a hot iron ran up my arm and the feeling a something breaking in my arm dragged my attention away from my thoughts.

Focus! Nano machines can only be used when the user is completely concentrated on their task.

To do so otherwise presented the risk of the delicate control backlashing. Like just now.

So I placed all of my concentration into the task; locking any stray thoughts into the back of my head I poured my very being into the fragile healing process. I had no way of even looking at whether it was working or not. Even though I was looking down at where Vanilla was all I could see was my extended arm over her chest acting as a medium between the wondrous technology and the girls broken body.

…I had no clue how long the process took; my sense of time had been lost along with everything else when I started the healing process. Hell, the only way I could tell that I'd finished was when Cera pulled me away from Vanilla's body and laid me back onto the bed I'd been on previously.

"H- how did you do that!?" I could hear the docs question but at the same time could not. I don't know how it sounded to her but to me her words her barely audible.

I felt extremely tired. My arm hurt, my nerves along said arm felt dulled and I generally couldn't get a feel on its condition.

That was fine though, as long... as I'd...

...Damn, I really... can't think right now.

"Hey... doc... she's... okay now right...?" I could barely get out a word much less the entire sentence but I somehow managed to get the message across.

"...Yes, she's fine now." She eventually answered.

"Good..." I smiled lightly... and allowed my consciousness to fade.

* * *

"...Great job angels; you did great." Despite his words of praise their was no happiness in Tact's tone nor did anyone on the bridge- even the usually emotionless Lester- look remotely happy.

"...I hope those two are alright." Even Milfie- the girl of the hour who'd managed to hold back and best the whole of Rezoms pincer attack fleet wasn't in high spirits after the realisation that both Vanilla and Will were still in the infirmary.

"Still... how the heck did that guy manage to get #8 working?" The next to speak was Ranpha who looked particularly downcast at the pairs injuries. Her emblem frame was just as fast as #8's and she was more experienced so it should have been her who carried out the plan...

That was what her guilt was telling her at any rate.

"At the moment I don't really think that matters." Mint spoke up after that with her ears flopped down to show her feelings on the matter at hand. "What's most important right now is getting those two to recover."

Forte gave a nod in consent; not speaking a word. At the moment she was thinking over what Will had done and was finding herself respecting the young man for his willingness to help solve the situation while mentally berating him for tackling such a delicate and dangerous job with no experience in piloting.

"...Mint's right," Tact eventually said after a few hesitant moments. "The best we can do for now is hope for their recovery; for now we have to move on and hope that we don't we caught in another trap like that again before they get back on their feet." To that everyone gave a nod in consent. "Alright, angel wings you're dismissed to relax then. Almo, plot a course for a chrono drive jump."

"Sir!" With that the four pilots left the bridge to head to their own individual places of relaxation.

"Lester, could you..."

The silver haired man simply nodded. "Yeah, I've got the bridge; get some rest alright?"

"...Yeah, thanks." Tact gave a soft smile to his best friend before following the girls out the door into the hallway.

 _'Now then, what now?'_ Figuring that there was nothing that he could do at the moment the spiky-haired commander allowed his feet to guide him to a place where he could relax.

Before long his feet stopped and Tact found himself outside a certain pinkettes room on C-deck.

"...Huh, how'd I end up down here?" Shrugging in response to his own question he proceeded to knock on the door. "Milfie, are you in?"

"Oh, Tact? Please, come in." letting out a quick thanks he made his way inside.

Milfies room was just about what you'd expect if you knew her. A big fluffy bed tucked away in a corner on the right side of the room with a kitchen taking up the majority of the space on the left side. The wallpaper was yellow which spread out up to the middle of the wall where it split into a white tile roof. In the centre of the room was a wooden table.

Milfie- currently dressed in a pink apron atop her uniform- was at a cutting board with several pieces of cut up fruit and a pastry layer already set out next to a baking tray.

It seemed she was in the starting preparations of making a type of pie.

"Hello Tact, did you need something?"

Tact scratched his head in slight worry; in truth he'd only allowed his feet to carry him so in reality he had no reason to actually be there...

"Actually no, I was wanted a place to relax and my feet led me here." He let out a small laugh at the silliness of the situation and expected Milfie to join in.

What he didn't expect her to blush in embarrassment and drop the knife he was holding in surprise; which in turn caused it to cut into the hand that was lying on the cutting board.

"Ah!" the pinkette flinched slightly in pain before quickly moving away the cutting board to head to a small chest of draws to pick up a small bandage to cover up the cut finger.

"S-sorry about that Milfie!" Realising that he'd been the cause of that little incident Tact quickly moved apologise. "I-I was just being honest; I didn't think that would happen."

"I-its alright!" Milfie quickly waved away the apology. "Y-you just surprised me a little with that answer is all. I'm fine, really; it was just a small cut."

"...Are you sure?" She quickly nodded in rapid succession. "...*sigh*, that's good."

"..."

"..."

The atmosphere between the pair quickly became awkward as they both thought over what to say next. Milfie still had a small blush on his face and Tact looked around the room nervously as he picked his brain for a topic changer.

"So, uh... who's the pie for?"

A relieved smile came over Milfie's face for a moment before she answered. "Its for Vanilla and Will for when they wake up. They'll probably be a bit hungry when they do so..."

Tact gave a genuine smile in response to the pinkettes response. "That's really considerate of you Milfie; as expected of you though I guess."

"T-Tact, you're making me blush..." A slight red hue came over her cheeks again. "A-anyway, do you want to help making it? You said you came here to relax and cooking's always helped me do that so..."

"...Sure, why not? Just tell me what I can help with."

"Great! Then you can..." With that the pair went to work on making a treat for their still recovering friends.

* * *

Within the lounge on B-deck Mint could be found packing up some of the same brand of tea she'd brought with her to the picnic earlier. Same as before she was placing it in a flask next to several different cakes and sweets that she'd gotten from her room before heading to the lounge.

The reason that she was doing this was so that she could stay in the infirmary and wait for her two teammates to wake up.

Yes, _two_ teammates. No matter the methods in which it had been done the fact that Will had managed to activate the always non-responsive #8. That automatically made him a part of the angel wings whether the top brass of the navy would accept it or not.

Regardless of that though the young Blancmanche heiress felt it would be best to look over the pair in thanks for their effort in dealing with that 'baby magnum' as the male of the pair had called it.

Why it was called that was anyone's guess but if that was what it was called then that was what it was called.

With that belief in her heart the small girl packed up the things she'd gathered and headed down to D-deck with a soft smile on her face.

* * *

On D-deck within the gym- as typical of her- Ranpha was delivering a fierce beat down to a punching bag so as to release her own frustrations over what had happened earlier.

It was her fault; it had been her that had stayed quiet when Tact had presented his plan of action and told Will to act it out.

Now both him and Vanilla were lying in the infirmary with injuries that could have been avoided had she acted as bait instead.

She hated it...

She hated it...

SHE HATED IT!

"..." She suddenly stopped her exercise as the bag was sent flying off its chain and to the ground in a loud thud.

"...How annoying." Muttering that to herself Ranpha went over to the next punching bag and started all over again.

* * *

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The sound of gunshots resonated across the hallway near Forte's shooting gallery. The leader of the angel wings had been going to it since they'd been dismissed ten minutes ago by their commander and had yet to take a break from it.

A frown had been sat on her face for the duration of that time.

While she possessed no guilt over what had happened- she had no reason to as their was nothing she could have done to help in that situation- the eldest of the pilots felt responsible as their leader for both Vanilla's and Will's condition.

As the leader it was her job to point out faults in a potential plan and prioritise the safety of everyone involved in said plan.

She hadn't done that back there- having been caught completely off guard by the appearance of that 'baby magnum' turret she hadn't managed to get her thoughts together quickly enough to say anything in objection.

Now those two were out in the infirmary due to her negligence.

"...Haa, can't get those two out of my mind." Forte eventually muttered this to herself after around the two dozenth round she'd released on the targets that were now more holes then actual targets. She placed the gun- her favourite revolver- down onto a nearby stand where she usually kept her ammo and walked out the door a moment later.

Her destination? The infirmary.

She was going to see how her two teammates were holding up.

* * *

When the pie was finished the pair of Milfie and Tact had wrapped it up and immediately headed down towards the infirmary on D-deck where the pair of people that had been on both their minds for the last twenty minutes.

The trip down had been filled with a comfortable silence; nothing was needed to be said between the pair. Both were smiling in satisfaction at the work they'd done and they were certain that their still recovering friends would enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Within a few minutes they'd made it to their destination and didn't waste any time in entering.

"Oh, Tact, Milfie; I was wondering when the two of you would show up." Mint spoke up in greeting with a cup of tea in her hands. Forte gave a friendly nod before turning her head back to the still sleeping body of Will who'd had his head injury already treated but now had a caste over his left arm for some reason.

As for Vanilla...

"Huh? She looks completely fine." Indeed, there was no longer any sign of injury on the green haired angels body. All the scrapes on her face were healed perfectly leaving no sign of scarring; her arms had been returned to their original position and her chest had been completely restored.

"Yes, we were surprised when we first came in too; especially considering what happened to the Harvester during the battle." Mint gave her input on the odd phenomenon before taking a quick glance to the still injured of the pair despite having received the less dire injuries of the two.

"Where's Dr Cera?"

"She's... gone out; said she saw something that made no sense ad wanted to get a grip on reality." Forte stated with a small smile on her face. "Honestly, seeing the state of these two I'm inclined to do the same."

"...So we have no idea how this happened then?"

"Pretty much Mr commander, though perhaps the bag of surprises there might be able to shed some light on things when he wakes up."

Tact decided to ignore the odd way Forte chose to describe Will and instead sat down on a nearby chair with Milfie following close behind.

They'd done their part; all that was left was to wait for them to wake up..

* * *

 _I was dreaming; there was no other way to describe the scene that was showing itself before me._

 _I was currently standing within the halls of the white moon. The grand audience hall stretched far and wide in both length and height. The majority of the colour to be seen was white with smalls pieces of gold lining that went across the archways that held the ceiling. At the back an golden throne with a red material could be seen in-front of a stain glass window with a red carpet leading towards the throne._

 _All and all it was a rather impressive room._

 _...So why was I in it- or specifically why was I in it alone?_

" _Hi, can you hear me white-moon-chosen- kun?" My musing was broken by the sound of an unfamiliar voice that sounded... off somewhat. It wasn't hostile or anything mildly threatening... it just sounded weird._

 _It was like I was listening to a really shitty translator rather than an actual person._

" _Hello, I said can you hear me?" A slight hint of annoyance made its way into the voice- something that sounded extremely creepy from something so off sounding._

" _Uh, yeah; I can hear you... whoever you are."_

" _...Is your voice usually that bad or are you just putting on an act to sound weird as heck to drive me off?"_

" _Huh, my voice sounds off? The only off sounding voice here is yours... unless we're both having our voices come out of a shitty translator because we speak different languages... what language were you using by the way?"_

" _Huh? is that what it is? Anyway, I'm speaking my home tongue of Japanese; what about you?"_

" _English, can you speak it cause I can't speak Japanese."_

" _Nope, English was always my worst subject back home."_

 _Back home? Wait, was this person..._

" _Are you from earth?"_

" _Yep~ born and raised just like you partner-kun~" An odd trace of joy and and life came to the voice and it began sounding more feminine. Was this person a girl?_

 _Actually, before that; where the hell is this voice coming from?_

" _Okay... and just where are you?"_

" _Oh, I got a bit of emotion in that one; are our minds subconsciously adapting to the languages we're using to each other and learning it while we talk? Either way, I'm... hmm, not sure how to describe it really. All I can say is that it doesn't feel like a place a human would be welcome. There's machinery everywhere and its all cramped together too tightly for there to be anything human sized to stand- and before you ask no that doesn't mean I'm a child or anything; I'm just having to curl up like a ball for there to be enough room. What about you?"_

" _...I'm in the audience chamber of the white moon."_

" _That so, lucky you; you can actually stand on your own two legs. I'm guessing then that I'm probably stuck somewhere in the black room then. Why my mind would be aware of what this place looks like since we never see the black moons interior in the games is beyond me though."_

" _Wait, you know about the games!?" That was a huge shock; to think not only was there another person from earth dragged into this but also had played the games... that couldn't be a coincidence._

 _That woman had joined I was the most suitable for the task. Was that because of my knowledge of the series and what would happen?_

 _And if that was the case then was it the same circumstances for this girl- her voice by this point was completely feminine with no trace of the translator coming through- in that she was forced to play for Eonia's side?_

 _She said she was probably dreaming of being in the black moon so that conclusion made sense..._

 _But this only raised more questions overall. Why were there two of us being summoned by the two moons? There job was to evolve separately and eventually unite into one entity in order to fight against the Val-fasc so why were the two of us involved in this?_

 _Also, did that mean that this girl had a power of her own?_

 _From what I'd managed to piece together about it so far it seemed to affect people on a subconscious level so did her power involve machines- as she was 'chosen' by the black moon which focussed on the development of machines without human interference as I'd been by the white that focussed on the human spirit that had infinite potential to develop?_

" _Yep, I'd think that be obvious though as I'd doubt Noa would have chosen me if I didn't."_

 _Noah... the administrator of the black moon that resided within the central core. A naughty and self-centred individual with a keen drive to protect EDEN from the Val-fasc with a problem at socialising with regular people due to seeing them below herself or as tools._

 _In truth I'd actually forgot about her in regards to things but... now that her presence was back in my mind new possibilities began working into my mind._

 _In the end the whole coup pulled by Eonia had been because of the black moons interface wanted to combine with the white moon. If we could wake Noa up and have her stop the fighting..._

" _Hey, when you said Noa did you mean the actual Noa or just the interface fake?"_

" _...The fake unfortunately; though I'm trying to get the interface to get the actual Noa out so I can talk to her."_

" _I see..."_

" _Hmm? Something wrong?"_

" _N-no, just thinking on how to develop things from here. From what I'm guessing your working on Eonia's side while I'm working with Tact and the angels side. With that being the case if we can get them to trust and listen to us then we might be able to stop this civil war before things escalate into bad territory- as in having Rhome being blown up."_

 _The girl was silent for a few moments; possibly thinking up possibilities in her head on how to proceed before speaking up again. "I get where your coming from... but can it be done? I've spoken to Eonia once and just from that conversation alone I could tell it wouldn't be easy to convince him to stop."_

" _You wouldn't have to; just show him that the interface is using him for its own ends and he'll probably at least work to stop it."_

" _...So essentially you're dumping all the hard work on me huh?"_

 _A chuckle came out from my lips. "Sorry, guess I am."_

 _A sigh came out. "Well whatever, I'll just repay you by sending a whole bunch of nasties your way as repayment~"_

 _A cold sweat came over me at hearing that. I could tell she wasn't joking at that._

" _...Just as a question was it you that came up with the object idea?"_

" _Give the boy a prize.~" Your sarcasm isn't appreciated. "In all seriousness though yep, I got it made; pretty sweet huh?"_

" _Sure, if you call pretty sweet blowing off Vanilla's chest then yes; it was pretty sweet."_

" _...Oh, that wasn't the outcome I was expecting with that." A saddened voice came out from the void and the anger I began to feel at the mentioning of that event quickly faded. "Is... is she okay?"_

" _...Yeah, I don't get exactly how but I fixed her up using her nano machines."_

" _Seriously!?" A cry of relief came out. "Thank kami; I'd have felt really bad if I killed the little sister of the group."_

" _Good to know you care."_

" _Of course I care! You don't go through an entire trilogy of games and not grow to care about the characters you idiot!"_

" _Geez, no need to yell at me girl; even if this is a dream plain or whatever you'll kill a guys ears if you yell that loud."_

" _Good, then you'll probably learn not to make bad jokes like that."_

" _Ri-" I suddenly felt faint and cut myself off mid word._

" _Huh? You ok- ah!" It seemed she was suffering from a similar symptom and broke herself off too._

 _My vision of the place became hazy and a general feeling of light-headedness became cloudy my mind._

 _I guess... we were waking... up..._

 _My vision was completely cut off and a familiar blackness covered by sight._

* * *

I opened my eyes with a bit of a headache and still feeling a dull pain in my left. No other complaints though thankfully.

"Hey, he's up." At hearing Mint's voice close by I leaned up onto my bum to take a proper look at things.

Vanilla was still lying asleep in her bed with her injuries completely healed, Tact and Milfie were seating on a nearby bed together with- based on the smell- an apple pie tucked on the pinkettes lap. On a chair next to the bed I was on Mint sat with a small basket filled with an assortment of cakes and sweets with a flask of what was probably next to her. Leaning at a nearby wall was Forte who was eyeing me with a small smile.

No sign of Cera though which was odd but oh well; she'd probably just gone out for something.

"Hey... anyone get the ID of the ship that landed on my arm?"

"Heheh, if you're cracking jobs- bad jokes mind you but jokes nonetheless- then you're probably good to go." Forte gave that remark with the small smile still in place.

"I'm happy to see you're in good health; just think of the possible problems we'd have had if people found out we got a civilian injured in combat."

"Haha, good one Mint; I'd give it a... 3 out of 10."

"Oh please Will; it was worth at least a 5."

"I'm not a generous judge Miss Blancmanche."

"I noticed." I was sure I was smiling just as brightly as she was as our usual banter went off... damn, I'm already calling it our 'usual' banter.

Guess I'm really getting used to being here huh?

"Will..." My attention was taken to act when he awkwardly scratched his head while trying to come up with the words. "...I'm sorry for what happened out there; I was so focussed on dealing with that turret that I didn't focus on how difficult it would be for you... and because of that oversight on my part both you and Vanilla got hurt. I'm sor-"

I interrupted him mid-apology by leaning over to the bed he was on and flicked him in the forehead. "Stop it, you've nothing to apologise for Tact. In the end even though you did order it I was the one that chose to do it. Like you said before Ranpha could have done it had I refused but I didn't; I went out there despite knowing there was a possibility I could die. When you consider that you're guilt free... the only one at fault was me for doing that despite having no experience at piloting. Its my fault Vanilla got hit too so- why are you all looking at me like that?"

I stopped mid-speech at seeing everyone slacked jawed expressions of disbelief... what did I say?

"Uh... something wrong?"

It was Forte who answered. "You just said you had no experience in piloting and yet you managed to pull off that dance against that turret with no issue until the end... you saying that was just natural talent or are you hiding something from us?"

...Oh, oops. How to explain that one. There was no way I could say 'oh, some mysterious women- the one responsible for me flying through that wormhole by the way- dumped the knowledge on how to properly pilot an emblem frame into my head saying it was for some great mission she was entrusting me to'

Yeah, that wouldn't end well.

"Quite, it definitely won't."...my blood ran cold at hearing Mint's voice speak up. Shit, forgot there was a bleeding telepath in the room!

"Hmm? Did you pick something up Mint?" Forte's voice was bland and lacking emotion.

Well shit, we're moved back to fucking square one.

"...Nope, just some odd dream he had when he was asleep."...Huh? Did she just- "In any case, I don't really think it matters how he managed to pilot #8. The only relevant aspect is that he can and needs to be properly taught on how to fly. I'm certain you can do that for our new teammate correct?" She ended her sentence with a smile.

Okay... what the hell was that!? Mint would certainly never lie about something like that so-... shit, did my powers affect her too somehow!?

"...Alright, I'll just ignore it; though I'll be considering that a strike against you there Johnson; let's not get ourselves anymore okay?" She was smiling but I could feel so much hostile intent that call I could do was nod frantically.

Yep, definitely back to square one with her.

"Glad we understand each other." The red head got off the wall and began making her way to the door. "I got what I came for so I'll be heading back to my room; see you all later." With that Forte was gone.

...Well shit.

* * *

Forte moved through the hallways of D-deck on her own. While on the outside she held a blank expression inwardly she was sighing in frustration at herself.

The new guy was still on her mind. While she really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt- especially considering that he'd risked himself to take out that spherical turret- everything about him was just oozing suspicion.

He shows up out of nowhere, has a mysterious power that affects peoples minds and can coincidentally pilot an emblem frame despite having supposedly no training in piloting.

How can that be anything but suspicious?

Still though, despite that he definitely didn't seem like a bad guy or seemed to hold any hostile intentions towards anyone- he wouldn't have helped set up the picnic if he did nor would he have accepted Ranphas slap from earlier.

Everyone else seems to be in agreement; or at least Mint did else she wouldn't have lied to her about what she picked up.

Yes, she could tell Mint had lied back there; she wasn't the leader of the group for no reason after all.

All and all though it left her at an extreme impasse regarding the young man in how to proceed other than to just go with the wait and see approach; something that could be extremely risky during this time of war.

 _'What else can I do though?'_

That was the question.

"Ah, excuse me miss Stollen."

Forte was brought out of her thoughts at the arrival of a woman dressed in blue with short brown hair and hazel eyes. This was the handmaid of Prince Shiva.

"Oh, I'm guessing the prince wishes to give a message to the commander?"

The young woman nodded. "Yes... also, he wishes to speak to the boy that activated the #8 if possible."

This caused Forte's brow to raise slightly; she couldn't see a reason as to why the prince would wonder about that but in the end just shrugged and told her that both of them were in the infirmary.

The aid promptly thanked the red-head with a bow before heading off in that direction.

"...Huh, best watch what you say in the coming minutes Johnson or you might end up locked up after all." Muttering that to herself the angel wings eldest continued on her way.

* * *

We all sat in relative silence after Forte's exit; personally I took the time in watching Vanilla while taking her right hand in my left. It both made me feel better and it seemed to do the same for her as a smile instantly grew on her face and she gripped the offered hand in a semi-strong grip.

Mint had returned to drinking from a poured tea cup filled with what she brought in the flask. She'd offered me a cup- saying it had originally been for Vanilla and me to begin with- and I'd accepted and taken hold of it in my available hand.

Tact and Milfie had cut up the pie they'd brought into even slices and distributed them out to everyone- leaving a slice left for Vanilla when she woke up. I'd set mine down on the bed I'd been using.

Since it was so quiet all of out attention was immediately gripped when the person I'd recognised as Shiva's attendant walked through the door.

"Excuse me, commander Mayers. The prince wished for me to pass along a message regarding the outcome of the battle fought earlier."

"I see, thank you." Saying that Tact got to his feet and took the letter the woman offered to him. It was basically the same message as in the game except with a warning to keep a better eye on the emblem frames conditions in future battles and to prepare several backup plans in case we ever run into a surprise like the Baby magnum again.

"..." Tact read it to himself three times before nodding to himself and passing the letter onto Mint who seemed eager to read it herself- If I recall in the game they made a big deal about it as well so I just ignored.

"Tell the prince that I won't disappoint him in his expectations in the future."

"Of course." Instead of turning to leave like expected- seeing as that signalled the end of the conversation- she turned in my direction. "The prince would also like to see Mr..."

"J-Johnson." I was so caught of guard by the request that I ended up stuttering. Shiva wanted to _see me!?_ That... could be considered both bad and good.

Bad because that meant she wanted to ask about #8- still need to think up a name- and good because... that meant I could potentially get her in her good books and maybe influence her decision in _not_ destroying the black moon if it comes to it.

"Very well, Mr Johnson; could you please follow me to the audience chamber?"

Not seeing a point in trying to fight it I give and nod, pry my hand off of Vanilla's- causing the smile on her face to vanish- and get to my feet to follow.

Without a single word from anyone we quietly leave.

* * *

The trip was in silence and before long we'd made it to our destination. She waved me inside and closed the door.

The first thing I noted was that there were no guards in the room. The second thing I noted was just how grand the audience chamber really was. With a red carpet leading to a throne similar to the one I saw in the white moons hall in the dream with a banner with presumably the royal seal on it. The walls were made of pure white with a small line of gold moving through the middle horizontally.

The area around the throne was set up in a very slightly elevated position with white pillars- four on each side surrounding it. A strategic part of my brain automatically linked it a good cover spot in case an attack made its way here as they were thick enough to hide a human body and seemed to be spaced out enough so a human could fit between the gaps.

Hmm... perhaps that was where the guards were hiding?

Not that it matters as all I had to focus on was the person sitting on the throne. _She_ was a small ten year old _girl_ with neck-length dark blue hair wearing a light blue and white robe with the shoulder pads and neckline being blue with a blue diamond pattern over the chest pattern with the leg area being white along with the sleeves which had a light blue pattern at the end.

On her head was a headband slightly above her blue eyes with a red jewel in the middle.

This was Shiva Transbaal; the only remaining member- minus Eonia- of the Transbaal royal family; a bastard child between the former king Gilland and the Holy mother of the white moon Shatoyan.

And she didn't look happy.

Upon seeing her a promptly bowed. "Your highness, William Johnson; it is an honour."

"Spare the formalities Johnson; they are not what I called you here for."

"...Apparently not." I returned to an ordinary standing position and looked to the young princess. "You wish to ask about #8 correct?"

She simply nodded. "Yes, how did you activate it? Not even the holy mother Shatoyan could do so so how did you, a civilian with no registered training to be a member of the angel wings, do so?"

"...In all honesty your highness I am still trying to wrap my head around it myself." I quickly continued before she could raise an objection. "When I placed my hand on it I heard... let us just call it an AI for now. Anyway, this AI ran through a series of scans regarding my mental health and comparability with piloting it before calling me under my mothers maiden name and opening the frames cockpit. I have yet to ask this AI what its purpose is so I cannot tell you of its origin yet I'm afraid."

"...I detect no lies in your words... very well, I shall accept them as the truth." With that the tension that had originally been in the room vanished and Shiva slipped into the comfort of the throne. "I have learned all I need to from you Johnson; you may leave."

I didn't. "Pardon me your highness, before I go may I have permission to speak freely?"

Shiva raised an eyebrow in confusion for a moment before consenting. "Well, and this is awkward for me to say, but... well you seem to be trying to hard."

"...What?" Her face morphed into true surprise upon hearing that.

"Well you see... you seem to be trying too hard to make yourself sound male when you have the body structure to actually be female." I flinch swept across her face for the briefest of moments. "Because of this I must ask... Prince Shiva Transbaal; are you actually... a girl?"

Silence, for the next solid minute the young princess just looked at me as if I'd just told her I could raise the dead or could kill a god or possessed eternal life... basically, she'd looked like I'd just told her the most the most ridiculous thing ever and had presented it as fact.

Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and wanted to leave before she ordered for my head to be separated from my body. "Forgive me your highness... I shall take back the question and act as if I'd never asked it if that is what you wish."

"N-no, i-its just... how? I've been taught to act all my life so I'd thought it was impossible to tell. Again, how did you know?"

"...It was quite simple your highness, I've met people in your position before so I could see the signs." I lied out my ass; there was no way I could tell her 'because I'd unlocked the Shiva sub-route in the first game and played the rest of the GA series which tells you anyway.'

"I... I see"

"Does it... displease you that I know your secret your highness?"

She quickly shook her head. "No... I actually feel... relieved. It is like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders."

"...Is that so?" A soft smile floated onto my face at hearing that. "In that case then your highness if you wish we could... meet up and speak again whenever you wish."

A faint blush rose onto her cheeks. "A-are you sure? With becoming a part of the angel wings surely you would gain little in free time and with my schedule as it is I will not have that much either."

I shrugged. "That's fine, just have a message sent whenever possible and I'll see what I can do from there."

"...V-very well. I shall see to it that such messages reach you when I can... Will." My smiled widened slightly at hearing her call my first name. "I will... look forward to when we can speak again."

"As shall I... Shiva." With that I gave a last bow and the audience chamber satisfied.

I'd taken my first step in gaining her friendship... hopefully I'll be able to ensure things work in favour of the fight vs the Val-fasc by influencing certain decisions from now on.

A part of me felt like an ass at seeing this as nothing but an opportunity to improve things for the future but if I wanted to try and lead things into a more peaceful ending then it was more than likely needed.

What's the point of having knowledge if you're not even going to use it right?

 **Between the lines**

Unknown to the young man William Johnson another person was having similar thoughts as she watched the emptiness of space from a nearby window in her room.

Like William Johnson she was a person of eighteen. She possessed raven locks that reached to the middle of her back and a single blue and green eye respectively; she had heterochromia. She was dressed in a snug black jumpsuit that was designed to further sync her mind to her ship and allow her to reach her maximum potential in space combat. Above the jumpsuit- that she wasn't allowed to take off for the time being so as to allow her brain to completely connect to the suit- was a white coat to cover up that she was wearing it along with a pair of black jeans.

This of course made it slightly hot to wear normally but her room had a built in air conditioner that she could tweak at a moments notice.

This girl was named Sora Hikari. She was an average girl one could find anywhere in the country of Japan with a bigger than normal interest in video games and more specifically visual novels.

With that being the case it was inevitable that she found a certain series known as galaxy angels. She played both trilogies, enjoyed both trilogies and happily put them away for a while until just recently feeling the need to play the series again.

The strangeness started the instant she started playing the first game of the first trilogy. Instead of playing the game she heard a very familiar voice of a fairly familiar character order her to fulfil their 'project E' before- rather violently- dragging her into her computer screen.

The next thing she knew she was waking up in the room she was now with the Black moons interface looking down at her smiling slightly with Eonia standing beside her.

And now...

Sora's attention was taken away from the window when the sound of her door opening echoed through her ears. Turning her gaze to a ninety degree angle she discovered her new boss standing in the doorway.

"Sora, I am happy to see you are awake."

"Thank you Lord Eonia." She gave a bow to the exiled prince before continuing. "Is there something you need of me?"

"Heheh, we're here to talk about your machines failure chosen-chan~" It was not the tall man dressed in royal clothing with long blond hair Eonia who spoke but the small girl blond girl dressed in a purple and white bodysuit with a tentacle-like appendage in place of a left hand. "None of the white moons emblem frames were destroyed during the battle and the prototype was destroyed. I hope you know what that means chosen~?"

"Of course." She answered almost immediately in a bland tone. "As soon as synchronisation is complete I'll set out and show them a _real_ emblem frame can do."

The interface merely gave a smile."Excellent." With that she left.

"...I'll ask again, do you really trust her?"

"She has been a great asset in allowing us access to the black moon. We would not be in our position if not for her."

"But do you trust her?"

Eonia didn't answer, he merely left the room behind the fake.

Sora released a small sigh. "Yep, he definitely left em with the hard job."

* * *

 **Well then that's chapter two of the first game done- at over 40k words done already... damn.**

 **Anyway, next chap will probably be just a filler to get give Vanilla time to properly recover and for Will to get to know the angels and Tact better- with potentially a small bit in there with Sora as well.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chap and I'll see you next time.**


	9. intermission 1

**...What is there to say that I haven't already? This weeks a filler chapter through and through; not to say that reading it won't be necessary for some things.**

 **Just enjoy and I'll see you at the bottom...**

 **Oh, and if it feels like this was half-assed than... yeah, that's because it was. Simply put the motivation to write this dipped multiple times during the week.**

 **Oh well though right? Its here now so lets get on with things.**

* * *

Intermission 1: getting to know your teammates

...A day had passed since my talk with Shiva. During that gap between now and then I'd had a proper tour through the Elsior, been given a room on C-deck- though I was staying in the guest room for the time being until it was fully finished- and made an official member of the angel wings by Tact and- surprisingly enough given her suspicions- Forte.

The two of us hadn't managed to exchange a word between just the two of us since I'd woken up in the infirmary- not that she'd been avoiding me or anything but just because I hadn't managed to get her alone since then. Whenever I went to talk to her someone just happened to show up just as I was about to get the conversation started.

Honestly it was getting aggravating.

Vanilla had yet to wake up yet but considering the injuries she'd gained from that object it wasn't that surprising... didn't stop me from checking on her every hour or so though whenever I could.

It was here in the infirmary that I was currently spending my time. A medical tome in one hand and a cup of coffee in another I was spending some time researching on various medical procedures that may be necessary to be performed or assist in during the slim chance that someone became injured or developed an illness that needed to be treated.

It may sound rather pointless as I seemed to be able to use nano machines but the knowledge was still necessary so that I could figure out what I needed the nano machines to do.

It was... strange; being able to use the nanoparticles. The little things seemed to almost be connected to my nervous system whenever I tried to activate them as they felt like an extension of myself, rather than a tool that I used like any other piece of medical equipment it was like I was a sword-master when he/she held his/her blade.

As I said, it was strange; especially when you consider that I'd only used them once before this point. Despite that they reacted happily to my command whenever I called for them like an over eager puppy that was desperate to please its new owner.

That didn't mean that it didn't take all my concentration to ensure I didn't screw up and lose control. My arm still felt slightly numb from that one instant I did when I treated Vanilla.

At any rate, it was just Vanilla, Dr Cera and me in the infirmary at the moment. As you'd expect there wasn't any chance that someone was actually going to come in as we had yet to receive damage to the Elsior itself nor had we ran into an enemy fleet since that pincer attack from Rezom.

All and all it had been a rather peaceful twenty-four hours or so.

"Is there something wrong Will? You've been staring at that page for the last few minutes."

I was brought out of my internal thoughts by Cera's voice who was looking at me in curiosity while holding a cup of her own while reviewing some documents on her desk- for those wondering I was sitting on a chair next to Vanilla's bed.

"Nothing doc, just... thinking over everything that's happened since yesterday; hard to believe I was just sitting in my room while typing on my computer one minute and the next I was dragged here huh?"

"Yes, it is a rather hard to shallow tale."

"I hear that scepticism doc, no matter how many times you ask the answers going to stay the same." The entirety of the conversation hadn't seen me turn my head to Cera's direction.

In truth the last three conversations we'd had in the past hour had always ended up reaching to her own questions regarding my origin point of before the portal dragged me here.

The only really annoying part was that I hadn't even lied about where I'd been before I ended up here either. Unlike other characters that tend to lie their way into the situation in either published works or fanfiction I'd read I'd been completely truthful in life before I'd wound up here... with only the smallest of tweaks.

Having that being disbelieved...

I'm sure you get the point right?

Anyway, Cera stopped speaking after that and went back to her reviewing. I simply continued reading the book in my hand.

That was all there was to it; I spent the next hour or so in that seat with nothing but Vanilla's soft breathing to fill the silence in the room.

* * *

I left the infirmary when I finished the entirety of the tome I'd been reading. The awkward silence between me and Cera had ended up being a bit too much for me to handle and so I'd high-tailed it out as soon as I could.

With that being the case though... I had no clue where to go off to next. From where I was in D-deck I could head over to Forte's shooting range or to the whale room to look after the animals for a while- I'd promised Kuromie I would after all- or perhaps to the gym to see if Ranpha was there.

Ranpha, that was another can of worms to deal with altogether. While I didn't have the full story from what Tact had told me the usually headstrong woman- both figuratively and literally- was blaming herself for our- mine and Vanilla's- injuries as she believed she could have performed the mission instead of me- being the more experienced of the two of us.

...I didn't really know what to think in regards to that if I was honest. On one hand I was slightly touched, as weird as that sounded, that she cared about the two of us enough to blame herself for it... on the other I wanted to smack her silly for thinking such a stupid thing.

...Actually, getting that fixed up sounded like the best idea out of the three options. Kuromie was there for the animals at all times and Forte's issue could be solved through action across the entirety of the coup. Ranpha's was something that had to be dealt with at the quickest opportunity less it affect her overall morale and cause her to grow weaker in battle as a consequence.

It that happened the chance of her actually dying increased.

My mind made up I set my course towards the gym... man, I was already getting tired of heading there.

* * *

In no time at all I'd already made my way to the other side of the deck and made my way through the gym door. Quite similarly to how I'd found her yesterday when I'd invited her to the picnic she was releasing all her frustrations on the punching bag setup in-front of her.

You didn't need to be a doctor to tell that she was extremely tired. Her whole body was coated in sweat- so much so that the white gym cloths top she was wearing were becoming slightly see through- and her mouth indicated multiple heavy breaths being taken every second.

...See this was hurting a little bit. All of this... because of me?

I really needed to break her out of it now; before this got any worse.

"Hey, think it's time you took a breaks their Ranpha; I was see your bra from here."

I moved in with a comment that was sure to get her fired up but all I got was a "...Oh, its you." In a mellow voice before she went back to punching as if I hadn't said anything.

"I said its time to take a break Ranpha; Dr Cera would agree with me on that if she saw you in this state."

"...I'm fine, thanks for the concern though." Once again I was ignored.

"Ranpha!" Not bothering to deal with her sudden choice of BS anymore I moved forward and grabbed her by the arm mid-punch. It seemed to take her several seconds to notice that her arm wasn't moving as she just moved forward as if my intervention had gone unnoticed once again before she slowly turned her head ninety degrees to the left where my face was.

"...Let go." Was all she said.

"No, you're not helping anyone- especially yourself by wasting all your energy down here punching these bags."

"You'd rather be the target instead?"

"Don't say just a sentence with a blank expression; it makes it more terrifying than it already is." A sigh escaped my lips as I looked at the usually active woman's lifeless, tired eyes.

This was tearing her apart; this unneeded guilt was eating her whole... and it seemed the only person capable of doing something about it was me.

Bloody typical.

"...Look Ranpha cause I'm only gonna say this once okay? Don't beat yourself over what happened yesterday. Yeah it was bad but nothing happened that warrants you acting like this. Tact came up with a plan and I agreed to carry it out, that's all. No guilt needed for you to feel... okay?"

She said nothing. For the next minute she simply stood there frozen as a statue in return to my gaze.

I wanted to get her over this. I wanted to get back the girl that was ready to kick my ass the moment I stood out of line.

It was for that reason and that reason alone that I just stood there while she got her emotions in order...

And sent a fist flying into my face.

"You ass! How can you say 'that's all'!? Because I didn't step up and offer to do it instead you nearly got killed! And... and Vanilla... Vanilla almost died saving your ass too! All because I didn't say anything in objection!" She yelled out in complete anguish over the situation but I could barely make out her words over the ringing in my ears.

She'd clobbered me directly in the middle and sent me flying to the ground where a hit to the head when I met the floor temporarily cut off my senses.

Nevertheless though I'd still managed to hear her vaguely and put together what she was saying.

I had no words to give her in response to her cry. To begin with it was extremely difficult to change a persons opinion on even the most mundane of thing; to change her mind on something that meant this much to her would be impossible with words.

She truly believed it was her fault.

She truly believed that had she said something a different conclusion would have been reached.

The reason I couldn't say anything was because it was impossible to say she was wrong. Out of the two of us she was the more experienced and more proactive in terms of combat. She could have easily seen through something I missed or made use of her emblem frames defensive manoeuvrers more effectively to better avoid the lasers sent by the object or a manner of other things.

I couldn't deny the possibility existed and so I couldn't speak out against her on that regard...

However.

"...Complain all you want, it doesn't change the fact that what's done is done." Was my eventual retort.

That was the most truthful response made between us so far. It had ended and there was no way to make any changes now. We were stuck with what we got at the end of that fight and so could only accept that and move on to the next one.

Ranpha didn't get that and so was swinging around the blame onto herself that it hadn't ended perfectly.

That was all there was to it.

"...That doesn't mean I-"

"Yes it does." I interrupted her with a response that gave no room for interpretation. I got back to my feet from the floor and made my way back to the blonde angel who looked to be on the brink of tears.

"Look Ranpha, I don't know what you're looking for from me here- never did get how women worked so you can blame that- but if its I can help with then just tell me and I'll see what I can do about it."

"..." She just looked at me with tears threatening to fall down her face. She didn't move near em and I made no move to touch her; we just gazed at each others eyes...

Until Ranpha broke that silent truce by falling forward into my waiting arms. Not taking any chances I quickly wrapped my arms around her slim waist and silently remarked to myself just how light she seemed to be; not that I should have been surprised by that.

"I just... want some sleep." She muttered the words under her breath but I was able to catch them easily enough. I wordlessly nodded and moved to pick her up bridal style by sliding her legs over my right arm and picking them up.

"Hehe... this feels... nice..." With that she closed her eyes and fall asleep.

"...For what its worth Ranpha, if this forgiveness or not acting then you have my forgiveness; not that you ever needed it of course." With that I left the gym with the blonde in my arms and headed to the infirmary; not noticing the soft smile that made its way to Ranpha's lips.

* * *

"Not even ten minutes and you're already bringing people in for me to treat Will; one would think you have some reason to keep coming back." I laughed lightly to Cera's- surprising- teasing as I placed Ranpha in an empty bed and tucked her in under the covers.

"I wouldn't think she has anything more than fatigue and maybe slightly muscle strain from her continuous punching but I'll leave that kind of analysis to the professional here if that's fine with you?" After sharing a laugh together I left Ranpha in her capable hands and headed out back to the corridor.

Then...

"Oh, what a coincidence Johnson; I was just looking for you."

I was greeted with a slightly smirking Forte who had her arms crossed slightly. I smiled in the redheads direction before following her lead after she gestured to follow her.

* * *

Very little was said between the two of us as we walked through the corridors of D-deck. Naturally our destination moved towards her shooting range at the back of the deck.

"...No questions to ask Johnson?"

"Tones... its just now that I'm in the position to ask them they won't come to mind."

She laughed lightly to that. "That so? Well there's no one to get in the way so take your time."

"Alright... so why did you agree with Tact's suggestion regarding my joining of the angel wings?"

"Isn't it obvious? We need all the help we can get if we'll be dealing with things like that object and you at least seemed knowledgable in their weaknesses so it was a no brain-er"

"...Is that all?"

"I guess... you know my feelings regarding you being here Johnson and despite a part of me yelling to trust you after yesterdays stunt- both of them- another part wants to just put a bullet in your head and be done with it."

Despite the clear want to kill me I smiled at her honestly. Forte had never been one to beat around the bush or hide something so it was a good experience in talking to her. None of the other angels would have been that honest about this so it made her the best person to ask.

"I see..."

Forte snorted in amusement. "You don't seem surprised or worried that I said a part of me wants to kill you."

"That's just you doing your job. This is a war after all and a person like me just happening to show up- out of literally nowhere might I add- is nothing but suspicious to anyone but an idiot; therefore I can't fault you for wanting to deal with a potential risk before it comes to be a problem... the thing with Vanilla doesn't help my case either."

A true smile grew onto her lips. "Glad to see you're aware of your position Johnson."

"Like many people in this galaxy Forte I am many thing; an idiot isn't one of them."

She simply nodded and didn't say anything more. We headed to our destination without a another line muttered to each other.

This was the extent of our relationship so far; that of- one-sided- semi-reluctant partners; with one being an amateur that the professional had to look after until they got onto their feet properly.

In truth our relationship will probably never evolve much beyond that of teacher and pupil but that was fine with me. I'd always seen the older woman as the mentor/mature older sister that would always watch my back- be that to catch it if I tripped or to hit it if I went out of line in one way or another.

With that being the case I had no reason to complain... even if she would always have a weapon ready to shoot me until I proved myself to her.

* * *

After spending around half an hour with Forte in her shooting range- strange that she suspects me, if only partially, but is willing to teach me on how to use a gun but oh well- I made my way out of D-deck and headed towards B-deck in order to spend some time in the lounge. My throat was feeling a bit parched and I was in the mood for a cake so it was the best place.

...That and I felt like having a talk with Mint regarding what she'd heard yesterday with her telepathy. In a moment of carelessness I'd let slip about that mysterious woman in my thoughts and, quite naturally, she'd caught it instantly.

The real reason I wanted to talk to Mint was to ask why she hadn't said anything after hearing. She was in perfect position to so why hadn't she?

"Ah, Will; I was just thinking of looking for you. Would you care to sit with me for a while?" Seems I was soon going to gain those answers as Mint- like she was expecting me- spoke up from her table in her usual spot in the lounge; that being tucked away in the corner.

"Sure, I wanted to talk to you anyway." After getting a quick slice of cake and a cup of coffee- I was going through a slight caffeine addiction right now- I sat down on the chair opposite Mint and dug into my treat.

No words were exchanged for a minute or two as we both just indulged on our own treats without the mind on the other person in-front of us. The chocolate tart I'd chosen was rather tasty and the strawberry cake Mint was munching on looked great too.

Eventually though the silence was cut through my Mint's voice. "So, Will; what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"...Why didn't you say anything?" I didn't bother beating around the bush and asked her straight out.

She seemed to understand what I was asking as she simply gave a shrug. "What was I supposed to say? Like I said back then it wasn't a believable story and would have had you on house arrest."

"And now here we are... you said you were going to look for me; why'd you want to see me?"

"...I wanted to confirm the validity of that story." She answered after a few moments of hesitation. "As I said before it isn't a believable tale and no one would have believed you had you actually said it... so why did you think it?"

I couldn't prevent the snort of amusement from escaping my lips; causing the young Blancmanche heir to look at me curiously. "C'mon Mint, I may have only known you for a day but I can tell you're smart enough to figure it out on your own."

"...You weren't lying."

I smiled. "Exactly, that really was how I ended up here- and before you ask I don't know what exactly what that person wants me to do here but she sent me here for a reason and I'm damn well going to make my time here with everyone count. This is my war too so I'm going to ensure it ends with as little bloodshed spilled as possible."

"...That is a very idealistic goal; hoping for a 'clean' war. You are aware that includes keeping the enemy alive as well correct?"

"Of course," I answered without hesitation. "I'm well aware how ridiculous it sounds to hope for everything to end like a kids cartoon show where everyone survives and gets happy endings... but is it wrong to strive for that improbable outcome? I'm just a guy that for some reason got picked by some mysterious person to complete some objective here; that's the only reason I'm here... but so what? I'm here so I may as well strive for that ending while I'm a position to do so."

...Mint didn't say anything and frankly I didn't blame her; I sounded like the most cliché protagonist ever conceived talking like that.

Next thing I know I'll suddenly develop some over-exaggerated sappy backstory or gain a random power-up to defeat the final boss because the plot demands it... kinda of like how I got the emblem frame now that I thought about it.

...Moving on.

"...I don't know whether to praise that belief or to call you naïve." The young bluenette eventually settled for her answer after a minute of silence.

"Feel free to do both; in terms of everything behind the reason of this war I am naïve. That's actually why I want this to end without bloodshed; I want to find out Eonia's reasoning for doing this."

"And if it isn't an answer you thought was worth it?"

"...I'll kill him myself." I was lying, my plan wasn't to ask Eonia what his reasons were as I already knew them.

No, the real plan was to have him survive- or at least prevent the black moon form being destroyed- so that he could help against the Val-fasc when they showed up.

He had his supporters and the current regime had theirs. Joining them together was for the best and to do that convincing that exiled prince the interface was just using him was a must.

If we couldn't then that perfect, ideal ending could never be reached and he would be killed.

It was as simple as that.

"...I see." Was Mints only response.

* * *

I made my way through C-deck with my feet dragging me. After she'd said that Mint had said nothing else and had left shortly afterwards. If it wasn't for the fact that she held a genuine smile on her face I'd have been worried I'd said something bad.

Perhaps she was respecting my determination to do the deed if the worst comes to pass?

I'll just take that answer for now until she actually gives me one- if she does that is.

Anyway, my feet ended up eventually stopping in-front of the door of the door next to the guest room I was currently using.

In other words I was standing in-front of Milfie's door.

Deciding why not I knocked on the pinkettes door.

"Hmm? Tact, is that you?"

I laughed lightly to myself. "Not this time Milfie, do you mind if I come in? I'd like too... talk, I guess."

"Alright, Will, its unlocked so come in." If she picked up my slight pause her voice didn't give any indication. Seeing as I'd already said I wanted to talk even though I had no idea what to talk about and since I'd already asked I'd better head in.

With that in mind I did just that and found the pinkette looking through a cookbook- what else would she be reading?

She wave a light wave in my direction for a second without taking her eyes off the book and gestured to the seat next to her. Taking the hint I made my way to that seat before moving to look at what she was reading.

I felt a slight trace of surprise at not seeing a cookbook but- of all things- a fashion magazine that highlighted various trends and styles... that catered to towards getting the attention of men in their early twenties!?

One person immediately sprang to mind at that and a small laugh forced its way out my throat. "D-didn't think you were interested in sort of stuff Milfie; a guy- perhaps a certain commander- catch your attention?"

"H-huh!?" A blush sprouted on her face immediately and she moved to hide what was on the magazine from sight. "I-its just something that Ranpha to me s-so I'd thought I'd looked through it; that's all!"

"Can you be anymore obvious? A slight fascination is good and all but moving to this step after a day is a strange development don't you think?"

"I don't want to hear that from the person that was acting like a boyfriend to Vanilla yesterday."

"Haha... you're right; I can't say anything in response to that."

"Exactly!" We looked at each other for a moment before we both laughed at our silliness.

After the laughter died down Milfie brought the magazine back out and asked for my opinion on some things, like would a guy actually like this sort of things and other stuff like that.

* * *

Before long an hour of this had passed and Milfies stomach growled slightly. It was a slightly blushing once more pinkette that got up for her chair and to her kitchen wher she began work on some eggs. I was offered some but I didn't feel all that hungry at that moment so refused.

"Hey, Will..."

"Hmm?"

"...Thank you, for helping Vanilla and dealing with that object; we'd have been stuck if it hadn't been for you."

I was surprised, I couldn't see her face due to it being focussed on cooking the eggs but I was sure a sad smile was sitting on it.

"...Nothing to thank me for; Vanilla got hurt because of me to begin with and Ranpha could have dealt with the object if I hadn't. Honestly all I did there was cause problems for everyone due to my lack of experience."

"...That's not true." her voice can out like a whisper. "Vanilla chose to take that hit for you; it wasn't your fault."

"And she wouldn't have done that if this weird power of mine hadn't made her like that!" It came out so suddenly that I couldn't stop it. My hands involuntarily slammed the table and my gaze narrowed in a glare.

"Don't blame yourself! you're just acting like Ranpha now Will!" it came out as sharp as a knife and stabbed into me just as effectively.

"...How was it not my fault Milfie?"

"Because Vanilla wanted to protect you." She said simply. "Disregarding the reason as to why she chose to get hit instead of you."

"That was because-"

"Because she loves you." She interrupted with a ridiculous answer. "I won't pretend to know what happened... but even someone like me can tell that whatever did happen caused you two to fall in love with each other. That's why she did it and why it hurts you so much."

"...Who are you and what have you done with the real Milfeulle Sakuraba?"

The words just slipped out.

Milfie was never like this; she was the airhead, the optimist; she wasn't the mysterious character that withheld all the knowledge until the time was right.

...What the bloody hell have I done to her character!?

While I inwardly yelled that to myself the aforementioned warped pinkette simply giggled. "I know right? This isn't like me at all. Hmm... I can't explain it but it just feels like I can read you two easily enough that I can say this type of thing.

Its the same for you right? You aren't normally one to tease people about things like crushes right?"

"...Yeah, its odd; I just feel like I can act this way around you for some reason and talk to you with things like this. I couldn't imagine this going over well with the others- hell, Ranpha and Forte would probably punch me if they heard it- but with you ever since we shook hands in the infirmary I've felt I could spill everything and know it would be completely fine."

"Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that back then." It was then that she looked back and gave a smile.

I smiled back, and felt that we'd become closer in some way.

* * *

Before I knew it the day was over for me and I was lying on the bed in the guest room. It was a comfy place but it felt more like a hotel room than an actual place to stay.

It made my glad that I was moving into a room to call my own soon.

It was while I lied on that hotel styled bed in that hotel styled room that I thought back to the various conversations that I'd had today:

A talk of what-ifs with Ranpha.

A talk of the current status quo with Forte.

A talk of trust and ideals with Mint.

...A talk of guilt and love with Milfie.

Four conversations.

Four very different girls to speak to them with.

...It was very odd to have such talks with people but it had never once felt unwelcome.

If anything it felt like I'd needed them, in more ways than one possibly.

...Ah, I'm tired. That's enough reminiscing for one day.

Tomorrow is a new day on the job... and I've gotta... be... prepared...

Zzz...

* * *

 **...I'll be honest; I didn't like this chapter. It just felt bad to me and didn't feel like it got the point of its existence across.**

 **For those wondering the title wasn't referring to Will getting to know the angels better but of the audience to get a feel on what his current relationship with him is... and even that failed in my eyes.**

 **Maybe its because of what I mentioned above but the whole thing just went all over the place.**

 **Starting at Ranpha with her talk of that small sub-plot I brought up of her guilt in the situation last chap it was mainly thinking of what-ifs in that situation with Will not really being able to comment on it.**

 **Can't really say I could either as we'll never know... unless I write a what-if story like good old steviebond has with his stuff but that probably won't happen as I'll be focussing on bringing this series up.**

 **Next up was the short with Forte and that went basically nowhere to me. It was just there to state in clear words where they stood with each other and no other reason.**

 **Mint was next with a talk of her earlier decisions and Will's already guessable if not established last chap plan on the state of the coup. The mention of his ideology honestly came out of no-where to me but honestly I just let these things write themselves more than half the time and just roll with it.**

 **Last but not least we had the conversation with Milfie which was just Ranpha's but with Will as the guilt feeling one.**

 **The whole thing at the end with Milfies self-admittant OOC moment was to go back on an earlier plot point mentioned in chapter 1. Due to Wills power the two trust each other implicitly and so are able to act like they've known each other since birth.**

 **Not sure whether or not people remembered that little detail so here it was in all its prupose.**

 **...That's pretty much it. Next cha is back to the plot with the start of chapter 3 of the game. Please R &R and I'll see you next week.**

 **...Oh yeah, I'd planned to put Sora and Shiva in this originally hadn't I?**

 **...Oops.**


	10. Chapter 8

**...First off, I am really, really sorry that this is a week late; I had things going on- still do really so I'm lucky I was able to get this done at all- that stopped me from working on this as much as I could have which I apologise for; especially when I already promised I'd get these out per Sunday.**

 **...Now that that's out of the way lets get on with the start of chapter 3 of the game.**

 **Hurray for not having to write original plot for now!**

 **...With that being said though things will obviously not follow canon in this game chapter- that'd be no fun and completely miss the point of fanfiction- and things will heat up a bit when the game chapters climax comes about.**

 **How? Patience my dear viewers. All things will be revealed in time.**

 **Now then, I've kept you waiting long enough- much longer than necessary- so lets just dive right into things.**

 **This is the start of gaming chapter 3!**

* * *

Chapter 8: I have a confessional scene with a boy with a baby whale on his shoulders... what the heck is wrong with me?

I felt a yawn come my way even after taking a sip from my morning coffee within the comfort of the lounge. While sleep had come easily last night- did night even exist in space?- it didn't seem I'd had enough of it.

I guess thinking of things yesterday kept me up longer than I'd thought it would.

Oh well, hopefully things will be fine for now; they'll have to be if we want things to be at full force by the time we encounter the hell hounds for the first time.

I wasn't holding it past Sora to bring in the whole group in this first encounter; something that would bring up one man- or in this case angel- down in terms of units and available fighters.

Not something we need right now.

"Morning Will, I'm surprised to see you up so early." Taking my gaze away from the liquid in my cup I turned my gaze over to Mint who was holding a small smile on her face.

The conversation we'd had yesterday briefly played through my mind but after seeing Mint seemingly forgetting it had happened I decided to do the same and instead just invite her to sit with me.

The Blancmanche heiress gracefully accepted and after getting a pot of tea- along with two cups for some reason- sat down directly next to me as opposed to opposite.

I just shrugged and ignored it.

As we silently drank from our respective drinks I took the time to notice some subtle changes in the bluenettes attire. For one she was wearing a- what I was guessing- floral pink ribbon in her hair and the blue ribbon she usually wore was gone to reveal the blue dress she wore underneath her regular uniform.

It was an odd change of her regular look- the ribbon in her hair seemed almost forced as she had short hair to begin with- but it made her look a bit more cute.

If she heard that thought she didn't react to it. If anything her eyes were holding an appraising look as if she were waiting for something.

...Ah, so that was it.

"You look nice," I answered her unspoken question. "Its a bit of an odd change but overall it gives off a cute image; hopefully that was what you were going for... though if you're leaving the uniformed unbuttoned wouldn't it be better just to take it off altogether?"

"I would but the military regulations onboard won't allow it; this is as much I can get away with as I can... and thank you for the compliment." A faint red hue sat on her cheeks but I didn't respond to it with teasing.

"Seeing you blush makes you look really cute Mint; my honest thoughts." Instead I simply replied without the hint of jest.

"Heheh, you are just saying that."

"Not at all, it makes you look like the young girl you are instead of the member of the military you actually act as- even if this ship holds rather lax formalities its still obvious to a degree. I wasn't teasing you Mint; I just thought it was cute."

"I-... I see." The blush had since intensified and the young telepath soon refused to look me in the eye for fear of it intensifying.

Geez, the one time I don't try to get a response like this and I get the strongest reaction seen yet.

Typical.

* * *

Mint was embarrassed, she hadn't expected him to give such an honest answer.

While she'd admit that she'd changed her regular outfit a little just to see what'd he'd think- for her OWN reasons and certainly not to see if he'd like it or not; really- what she wasn't expecting was the answer to cause this reaction.

To be honest with herself since their talk yesterday she wasn't sure what opinion to make of the boy currently sitting next to her. On one hand he was now her teammate and a person who'd already shown he was willing to see things through to the end which made him reliable to fight alongside.

On the other hand he had that power of his that almost seemed to call to her mind the longer she stayed in the same place as him and it was getting harder and harder not to give in to the feeling of comfort it was giving her.

Had that been what was caused her to do this or was it something else?

No, if it wasn't that power then what else could it-

"You alright? You're spacing out a little there." Mint was released from her queries when the current source of her inner conflict spoke up.

Will was wearing a face that suggested concern even as he only looked at her with one eye while he drank from his coffee. The brow of his left eye was furrowed slightly and the left side of his lips was in a small downward position which suggested he was frowning.

A small smile fell onto the telepaths lips. She didn't have to read his thoughts to know he'd glimpsed her pucker her lips in frustration.

"I'm fine, Will; just slightly lost in thought over some things."

That was all she said and he seemed to understand as he just nodded and went back to sipping his coffee...

Before reaching out his hand and patting her on the head like an older brother would their younger sister.

"H-huh!?" The action surprised the young heiress so much that she almost dropped the cup she was holding in shock.

Like before his hand felt rather nice on her head and the urge to lean against it like a cat was quickly becoming unbearable for the girl.

She also felt the influence of the power he felt increase slightly... it seemed it possessed better power or output when in direct contact with the target.

That was something to file and think about later, for now...

"W-why are you patting my head?"

"You just looked like you needed it is all; whatever you were thinking of must have been annoying to figure out huh?" Will was fully facing her now and the slight frown had been replaced with a smile of his own. "Well, probably not any of my business so I'll just say don't dwell on it; or you'll end up like me and lose sleep over it." He ended that note with a little self-mocking laugh; something she joined in.

He was right though, worrying about it wasn't worth her losing sleep over it.

Yes, she would just leave it for now; and let her observation of the boy continue.

* * *

"Hey you two, perfect timing!" We were interrupted by the loud voice of Ranpha who was waving a magazine in her hand with a semi-reluctant Milfie in her free arm.

Ranpha seemed to be feeling much better since our talk yesterday as she gave me a smile and nod before setting herself down in the seat to my immediate right while placing Milfie on the seat to her right.

"Morning Ranpha, Milfie; sleep well?"

The blonde angel gave a happy nod. "Yep! I feel much better now; I bet I could easily take on the whole of Eonia's fleet by myself!"

A chuckle naturally came out my mouth at hearing that. "Do make sure to save at least _some_ for us k? We'd all become laughing stocks if we let you take all the glory goldey."

"Hohoh, you cheer me up once and think you can give me nicknames like that eh flunky."

"Flunky! I'm not some guy that works under you goldenlocks."

"Not bad not bad rookie but an amateur could of thought of that flat eyes."

"Where the hell did you get flat eyes from!? If anything that's the sign of an amateur miss martial manger."

"Martial manger!? Hows that not out of left field!?"

We were interrupted by the sound of three sets of giggling/laughing. It seems at some point Forte had entered the room during mine and Ranpha's talk.

The redhead gave me a single nod before pulling up a chair from a nearby table and sat down in a tight area between Ranpha and Milfie. "Good to see you back to your usual self Ranpha; I take it our resident rookie had something to do with it?" I joined in with the light laugh that came from the eldest angels jab.

"Yeah, he got me out of it just fine; thankfully without hitting me this time-"

"You started that not me."

"-Which gave me time to clear my head on some things." She didn't even register my interruption and had continued to the end. "Anyway, since everyone that can make it is here I figured we'd get started."

I momentarily felt some confusion before eyeing the magazine in her hand again and recognising it as that fortune-teller magazine she used in... chapter 3 of the game.

Dammit! We've reached that part already!? I was hoping for a least one more day to let Vanilla recover some more!

...'Sigh', can't do anything about it now. I'll just have to pray that things end up for the better before the chapters done...

Huh, actually... wouldn't this be a good opportunity for me? If I can capture or destroy the enemy probe that comes in wouldn't that win some respect points from Forte and the rest of the crew?

...Unless they somehow got it into their heads that I'd arranged for the probe to arrive so I could create a situation where I could gain said trust of cour-

Shut up pessimistic side of my brain! You think too deeply into things!

...At any rate, focussing on that probe when it arrived was the biggest priority right now so I'll just need to worry about that for now... Wait a second, hadn't Sora said she'd be throwing extra difficulty my way!?

Will I end up having to face a dozen probe or an assassination robot instead of just a reconnaissance one?

...Damn it, I just jinxed myself didn't I?

"Hey Will, you want a turn?"

My thoughts cleared at Ranpha's voice and I turned my attention by to the blonde with a slight frown of confusion on my face.

"Huh, at turn at what?"

"At what!? Weren't you listening to what I was saying earlier?"

"...Oops, sorry; I was thinking of some things so no." Crap, she was looking angry at that.

"...Whatever," She eventually said after a few moments of tense silence. "I said do you want your fortune taken?"

"Fortune? You're into that kind of thing?"

"Of course! When it comes to love pulling out the destined partner from reading the stars is just a beautiful concept!"

"...So you basically do it so you can find your dream guy huh? Got it; in which case I'm probably not the right audience for the fortunes from that article."

"Does it really matter?" She tried to argue. "In the end your still getting a fortune from it so why not have a go just for the hell of it?"

"No thanks, last time I tried something like that it predicted I'd end up alone with suicidal tendencies and an alter ego in my head trying to convince me to kill myself."

"What the heck kind of fortune telling is that!?"

"Scary stories edition."

"Then obviously It'd give a prediction like that! This is meant for young girls to give a chance of leaving their dreams of love to fate!"

"Then again, this isn't the right type of fortune telling me then. Do recall that I'm male; I have a Y chromosome in here that gave me a penis instead of a vagina. i.e. it doesn't match up to me in the slightest."

"Too much information!"

The bickering continued for a bit after that...

* * *

Ranpha: "Okay Forte, yours is 'your luck with the opposite sex is bad now. But if you act you'll get results.'"

Me: "Doesn't sound like anything good or bad; its neutral if anything... well, do your best boss!"

Forte: "Best keep an eye on what you say Johnson or I may set my sights on you."

Me: "...Please don't say such a thing while stroking the revolver on your hip; I'll genuinely fear for my life if you do that."

* * *

Ranpha: Okay Mint, yours is 'Look for something in common and you'll get along with the opposite sex. There'll be an unexpected result later...'"

Me: "Well we both like sweets and generally spending time in peace and quiet, it must be fate."

Mint: "D-don't say such things Will, you'll-"

Me: "But I thought for sure it was true love sight back then Mint-chan~"

Mint: "D-don't tease me like that!"

* * *

After the teasing was out of the way Ranpha moved onto Milfie; who had since starting gotten more interested into the fortune telling than she'd appeared to be originally; possibly to see whether being able to date a certain commander was in the stars views.

It was just when I remembered that Tact was supposed to show up in this scene that the man did indeed make an appearance.

"Hey everyone, what's going on?"

"Hey Tact, Ranpha got everyone involved in some fortune telling from a magazine Milfie got her hands on; its been pretty entertaining so far as Mints fortune was."

"Please stop it Will or I'll have Forte sort you out for constantly teasing your seniors."

"...Shutting up now."

"Good boy." Mint gave a satisfied nod in my direction before explaining things to Tact proper and went on explaining her fortune to him- something that only happened after Milfies I remembered and even then only if the player asked- which was followed closely by Forte who gave her own. While surprising I gave no visual cue that made it look like it meant anything to me.

It didn't mean much after all and it would make sense that he was slightly curious on what'd already happened.

After that Ranpha went on to give Milfie hers and, rather unsurprisingly, Tact moved to cheer her up when it was given. I remained silent throughout the exchange, though the want to add a little something to it momentarily came to mind I ultimately decided to leave it to Tact.

Naturally Ranpha's came after that and thing proceeded normally from there.

Or rather they did until...

"Hmm... if we're talking about guys that are roaming the Elsior there aren't that many..." Forte put on a thinking expression for a few seconds before suddenly smirking slyly and... why are you pointing at me? "Could it be its Johnson here?"

...Huh?

"H-huh!? T-this guy!? No no! It'd be a much better guy than this amateur!" Ranpha waved her arms around in an attempt to literally throw off the conversation into a different direction while sneaking glances at me.

Out of the corner of my eye I oddly saw Mint frown for a moment before her smile came back in response to Forte's joke.

As for Milfie... she was looking somewhat relieved, probably happy she hadn't pointed at Tact.

Speaking of the guy he was laughing along with Forte in response to Ranpha's reaction; something I wish I was joining in on but I was too stunned to answer.

That... had been an unexpected curve ball. While it was probably just one of Forte's regular jokes the blonde angel seemed to be taking it seriously enough which in turn was causing me a fair bit of worry; especially with the glances she was giving me.

"...Maybe its someone else, Like Lester? He seems to be more Ranpha's type then me or even Tact here." Was my ultimate way of resolving the awkwardness that was starting to take over the lounge as the waving continued.

"Y-yeah! T-that makes much more sense! Sub-commander Coolduras is a much better option." Despite having suggested it I felt invisible stakes hit me in the feels with each complement came from her mouth. I wasn't... that inferior... right?

...Oh well, who cares? Not my problem as I was never really into the Ranpha route all that much- there was only so much corny lovey-dovey couple stuff you can stomach being shoved down your throat before you got violently sick of it- and in turn never really looked at her as a romantic partner all that much either.

"Yeah, that's right... it couldn't be that guy..." ...I really didn't need to hear that part.

"A-anyway everyone, I think that's enough fun for now so I'll be heading off... hey Ranpha, can I borrow that magazine? I'm meeting someone who might be interested in it."

"Oh, sure..." She gave me the magazine without any fuss.

With that I left the lounge. My next destination: The audience chamber.

It was time for meet the princess once again.

* * *

When I arrived at the audience chamber on C-deck I greeted the handmaid who let in in without a fuss. Apparently Shiva had already let her know ahead of time; something that suited me just fine.

Walking up to the throne without the pressure from before hanging over my head made the grand looking area seem more spectacular than it did before; which in term made it feel like it was a place royalty truly deserved to be in. Like before Shiva was currently seated on her throne with a small smile on her face and a faint light in her eyes.

It seemed she'd been looking forward to this meeting just as much as I was.

"Good morning Shiva, I hope you had a more pleasant night than I."

The blue haired child nodded "Yes, I had a rather pleasant dream of this war coming to an end and peace returning to the empire."

A smile graced my lips. "That sounds like a wonderful thing to dream of; a vision the angel wings and I shall definitely accomplish and reach with all our strength."

Shiva nodded at my words- her smile becoming a little brighter as she heard them- and rose off her throne before walking forward to meet me. "I am happy to hear that you'll fight for that dream, Will... and let us be off ; I have been given half an hour of rest from my schedule and I wish to not spend it in this room... would you please escort me elsewhere?"

"Of course, anywhere in particular you wish to see or go?"

"I have heard that the Elsior has a virtual park on A-deck. I wish to go there."

I gave her a nod and we were off."

* * *

In the end we'd ended up in the whale room. Apparently due to the sprinklers that had activated from the barbecue had caused the entire place to be covered in water and had managed to damage the electrical systems that created the illusion of the park in the first place.

Because of that we'd had to think of a different approach which led to our current destination after I mentioned the animals that were being kept in the place.

It seems not even a princess can resist the desire to look at and admire cute things... not that I'd actually said that for fear of royal retribution of course.

At any rate, the pair of us had immediately made way to Kuromies office and walked into the animal pens with the small boy and the baby whale on his shoulder close behind.

Almost unsurprisingly we'd headed towards the space rabbits first and they seemed to immediately take a liking to the young girl as they swarmed around her the moment she moved towards them. Shiva almost immediately began giving them attention one by one with her a scratch behind the ear here and a small belly rub there.

Occasionally she'd take some feed from a nearby dish and present it for the animals to eat; something they happily obliged in whenever it was presented to them.

The sight brought a smile to my lips as I watched from the sidelines alongside Kuromie who held a smile of his own.

"I see you managed to convince her to leave the audience chamber." Was the boys opening remark.

"Obviously, hadn't even been that hard as she was rather eager to leave it... so you knew about Shiva's little secret too huh? The space whale tell you or was it as obvious to you as it was to me?"

"The space whale," He answered. "I found out the moment she entered the space whales senses... it was a rather interesting surprise to discover."

I shrugged by shoulders. "I guess, she can pull off the act rather nicely... not enough to pull the wool under my eyes though."

"I suppose not." Kuromie laughed lightly to himself for a brief moment before he turned to me with a serious gaze. "The space whale has also revealed some... interesting information regarding yourself as well; information that was formed questions I would like answered."

I looked down at that boy that usually possessed a calm, happy demeanour with the littlest of surprise; honest I'd been expecting this from the moment I originally saw him and was quite prepared to answer accordingly.

"Is that so? Then by all means ask away. I haven't got anything to hide... not much anyway."

"...What is your objective in coming to the Elsior, in becoming a part of the angel wings, in your very presence being _here_?"

...I smiled, at hearing the phrasing of the question a calmed smile spread across my face.

So that was it, was it?

"My objective is simple, if naïve." I explained. "I merely want things to end with the minimum amount of bloodshed spilled by the time this war comes to an end. To do that I had to be placed where the crux of the conflict will take place. Where else would I find that but here on the Elsior... at least that's probably what that woman thought when she dropped me here."

"..." the small boy did nothing but gesture me to continue.

"...I will admit that my reasoning isn't as noble as 'I didn't want people to die needlessly' but more on a practical sense. The more people that survive this fight will be able to fight when the real threat emerges from the shadows."

"...Even the enemy like Eonia? You wish for them to join this fight as well?" The smile on my face grew at hearing his question.

It wasn't 'what enemy?' or 'how do you know this?' but 'you want us all to join forces to face this threat?'

"Yes, unknown to him he is being used by what he believes can be trusted in order to satisfy its own objectives. If things continue how they are it will end in his defeat and death and his secret weapon destroyed- I don't want that to happen. If we are to have a better change against the enemy we will need all the advantages and weapons we can get our hands on..."

"And that is why you get close to princess Shiva?" The question was asked innocently enough but the cold steel of a knife still cut through me nonetheless. "Are you merely befriending her so you can gain a foothold in the decisions she'll have to make in the future?"

"..." I couldn't answer, neither the words could come and- even if they could- my vocal cords refused to respond on command.

In all honestly that had been the reason for befriending the girl; since arriving on the Elsior the other day my mind had been focussed on preventing the disasters of the games form happening. This would be done through gaining the trust of key figures in Transbaals military and leadership and getting them to do things in a way differently from what they did in canon which resulted in the loss of resources and talented personal.

The black moon was the biggest loss in the result of those decisions and why my biggest concern was convincing Eonia to cut ties with the interface and have the real Noa wake up from within the moon's core.

And who bigger to go to first than the only remaining royal family member that was focussed on obtaining peace?

Yes, in my rush to prepare for the inevitable fight with the Val-fasc I had chosen to see Shiva- and everyone else on the ship as well- as nothing more than tools and stepping stones needed to reach that optimal state of readiness like some kind of hidden mastermind...

But that wasn't a persona I could take up the mantle of. It was the type of person I was.

In the end I was just an ordinary guy, the average Joe that had been dragged into a position well over his head.

I wasn't a politician.

I wasn't a soldier.

I wasn't any type of person that could put some advance skills to use to make things magically all better.

I was just... me.

"Indeed, you are just you." As if he'd been reading my thoughts Kuromie replied in an affirmative to them. "But still... even an ordinary person like you or me or the princess can do a great many wonderful things if we put our minds to it. For instance you have been here just two days and already you have caused quite a few changes for the angel wings and princess Shiva herself. In particular the space whale has told me he's never seen either Vanilla or the princess as happy as they were when they spoke with you."

"...Shiva just wanted someone to talk to, someone who would speak to her as just Shiva and not prince(ss) Shiva. Vanilla intentionally locked her emotions away to pour all her efforts on her nano machines and had only acted the way she had because of that power I seem to have. In one instance all I did was agree to speak with her informally for reasons that would only benefit me and for the other I completely re-wrote her personality and the very structure of the person that was 'Vanilla'.

In both instances I did nothing that can be considered good or worthy of being proud of... and yet you say they were the happiest they've ever been while on this ship while being with me?" I self-mocking smile crawled onto my face. "To that I say bullshit."

"...Even if the original intention was for a different result- or in the case of Vanilla completely accidental- what you did still made those two happy. For an ordinary person like yourself isn't that the biggest thing to focus on?"

"...Yeah, I guess." I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I'm just so focussed on the future beyond this coup that I can't help but forget about focussing on the present. In the end this coup is but the calm before the storm of the conflict that's to come after so actually focussing on it along with everyone around me took a back seat in response."

Kuromie laughed lightly at my answer- though it may have been from something the space whale said- and turned back to where Shiva was still playing with the space rabbits. "Well, now that you've realised that, what are you going to do now?"

In response to his question I smiled.

The reason-

"Isn't that obvious?"

-was because there was only one answer to give.

"I'll focus on the here and now... and I'll help that girl achieve her dream. Its the least I can do."

* * *

She had been listening. She hadn't given an indication that she was listening by continuously playing with the rabbits but she'd definitely been eavesdropping on her first friend and the space whales partner while they spoke.

To be completely honest Shiva wasn't sure what to think in response to what the young man had revealed. I mean really, Eonia was being manipulated by the person that had supplied him with his armada of automatic ships? There was going to be a war on a much larger scale, one so big it makes this coup that has disrupted the entirety of the Transbaal empire nothing but a clam before the storm?

It sounded ridiculous to the young princess... but she believed him. She believed the seriousness and the certainty in his tone.

Will knew exactly what he was talking about and he wasn't afraid to admit it either.

...In all honest she didn't know what'd she'd do if she was given knowledge of the future events and told 'you know what's up, go fix it' by some unknown entity. It was a situation she'd never imagine would happen to a person that it was something that had never entered her mind before... and yet, her friend was going through that exact scenario and was struggling over how to do it.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that he wasn't in the best position to do anything. Sure, he was now a part of the angel wings so he was at the literal head of the conflict but what else could he do?

Nothing. Without the support of others in commanding positions he wouldn't be able to lead things in a direction that may lead to a better outcome then the one he'd already seen.

Of course, it would be impossible to say whether what he did or changed would lead to a better outcome and Shiva was sure Will knew that to. Nevertheless though he was willing to try.

Even if that meant manipulating her and everyone else... or at least that was what the young girl originally thought...

Then she heard his insecurities straight from his mouth. At hearing the later end of the conversation her emotions went from embarrassed at hearing she'd been at her most happiest when talking to him to sad that he didn't think it possible considering his intentions to... happy.

Yes, by the end of the talk she was happy. He was going to focus entirely on working towards peace and a bright future for _her_ empire... and it was all for her.

So yes, she was happy... and perhaps something more.

* * *

Before anything else could be said a sudden alert began echoing through the whale room.

"Enemy missiles rapidly approaching the Elsior! All hands prepare for impact!"

What!? When did we leave chrono drive!? Was I not paying attention?

Wait... that didn't matter right now. The missile that held the probe had already been fired and was heading towards the hanger. That wouldn't be that bad- well it would but knowing that there would be no damage held in my worry- in not for the fact that we were on _D-deck_ in the whale room which was pretty close to the hanger!

In other words...

"Get down!" I moved instantly, running as fast as I could I grabbed Shiva and hurled us both- Kuromie had already ducked just as I ran towards the princess- to the ground just as a shockwave shook the room and threatened to burst our eardrums as we flew upwards slightly due to the impact of the blast and were sent flying around two metres into a tree.

"!" I felt a small bit of pain run through my spine from the impact but I ignored it in favour of making sure the small girl in my arms was safe; something that seemed to be positive.

Taking a quick look back outside the case area Kuromie seemed to be just- if not grunting from the pain of being thrown into the nearby wall due to the force of the shockwave he'd be perfectly fine.

"Hanger on D-deck has been hit! Damage unknown; everyone is to move into primary combat stations immediately!

Commander Mayers, please report to the hanger immediately! Angel wings, head towards the hanger to sortie!"

Almo's voice echoed through barely audible due to the ringing from the earlier explosion but I caught the message loud and clear.

"Are you alright, Shiva?"

The small girl nodded. "Yes, I am fine... thank you for the assistance, Will."

"Don't mention it. Can you make it back to the audience chamber by yourself from here? I need to head to the hanger immediately."

"...Yes, I shall manage. Go."

I nodded, put her down as gently as I could, rushed over to do the same for Kuromie and ran out of the artificial beach.

It was time to meet the 'rivals'.

* * *

 **Well that it... please don't hate me for essentially leaving you hanging for an extra week just to give you a lukewarm chapter. The main reason we're stopping here is because I really want to make the fight scene with the Hell hounds the focus of the next one.**

 **Also, for those who are paying attention I've already shown how this will deviate form the canon game chapter. For those not able to fight it don't worry; all will be revealed... with that being said however its not really that hard to spot so I'm expecting everyone to notice it.**

 **Now then... I'm really sorry for that scene between Will and Kuromie. In all honestly it does feel like that should have been felt back until** _ **way**_ **later as its basically having him question his way of changing things when its barely been started but like Will himself said... he's just an ordinary person.**

 **He wasn't raised to manipulate people or was he interested in politics or debates back on earth so he wouldn't know the first thing about convincing others to believe in his way of thinking. Hence this confession scene with Kuromie- the one person that had a connection with something that would be able to detect his inner thoughts form the get-go.**

 **Like I said, sorry if you feel it was too early... the only excuse I can give was that the thing wrote itself- like the majority of things that I write really. I honestly don't plan for these things to happen most of the time but they just do...**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chap- as probably boring as it was- and I'll see you whenever I get the next chap done; be that next week or the week after again.**

 **Till then, please R &R and I'll see you next time. **


	11. Chapter 9

**Well... here we are...**

 **For one, I will say that, to the bottom of my heart, I am sorry.**

 **I am so sorry that its taken near enough six months for this to be out- especially when its not even that long and something I easily could have written in a day if I had the right motivation and time ( no joke, I really could have).**

 **For those wondering why its taken this long, the reason- the initial one anyway- comes from one word: Exams. Yes, back in May my exams were likely two weeks away and I had no time to be writing anything whatsoever.**

 **However, that only concerns the months of May and half-way through June; they couldn't be helped at all.**

 **Everywhere else from then on to now... I have no excuse. A lack of motivation doesn't begin to some up what I've felt since then; that and actually failing the exams didn't help either.**

 **I guess, I got the motivation back when me and my folks spent the half-term in Cornwall, St Ives. I managed to get the motivation to type again and... well, here we are.**

 **...Lets get on with things.**

* * *

Chapter 9: Why is my rival so OP!?

In no time at all I reached the hanger. As expected the damage around the area itself was minimal, there were no fires or signs of significant problems running over the place minus, of course, the arms that place the trick master, happy trigger and harvesters frames into position to head out into the battlefield.

Oddly enough there seemed to be some damage on one of the walls but it was nothing but a black smudge on the white material that it was made of so I immediately threw it out of my mind.

Back to the arms, at just a quick glance it was obvious that the mechanism that held the frames themselves had been hit with the might of the missile that had been fired which had twisted them ever so slightly; truly not by much but with a machine even the slightest of changes can cause a malfunction.

As was the case here.

"Will!" Taking my gaze away from the damage I turned my gaze over to the frames themselves where the rest of the girls had already arrived. Not wasting any time I ran over to them.

"What's the situation?"

"You can tell just from looking right? The arms for all but yours, Milfies and Ranpha's frames are damaged." Forte explained while giving the damaged arms a small glare... its not the machines fault you know. "With that being the case only you three can take off... and with the enemy force unknown at the moment..."

"It could potentially be too big for the three of us to handle; especially considering it'll be my first _real_ battle with the girl over there."

"Exactly." With that the conversation ended and Forte entered the happy trigger. Taking a quick look around to see everyone else had already done the same with their own frames I decided to do the same and walked over to... I still hadn't given the girl a name yet, damn.

...Hang on, why was I calling it a girl? I'd said it without thinking when I was speaking with Forte and now I'd thought it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Maybe it was because the voice of the A.I used Hikari's voice? Was that why or was it that thing people that were attached to their favourite vehicles did where they called them a she as if it were alive (which with the chrono string engine and that it chose me as its rider it kind of was)?

...Either way I guess; it didn't matter in the end.

Placing my hand onto the chassis of the silver frame once more since that time with the object Sora had set up the cockpit opened up automatically and welcomed me into the seat.

And as I sat down into the chair...

 _'Welcome back Master, I trust things have been well for you since our last encounter with the enemy?'_ The A.I spoke in my head like it was greeting an old friend. Despite coming from a computer the voice held emotions such as happiness in its tone.

A bizarre concept when you consider it seeing as it had probably only been built to assist with targeting and to give combat advice to the pilot... though why it was here at all was the biggest question.

In the end, why was an A.I setup on an emblem frame that used the HALO system? While I hadn't been able to play the second trilogy of galaxy angel games due to it never being localised outside Japan- as it had only been put on the PlayStation 2 instead of PC like the original there hadn't been a translation made so it couldn't be played that way either- I know that in the second trilogy Noa had created an artificial emblem frame that had an A.I replace the HALO system so Kazuya- the protagonist of the second trilogy- didn't need to keep the mental morale of its pilot high himself.

With that being taken into mind, again, why did the frame still have a HALO system equipped if the A.I was here?

...Just another question to think about I guess.

'I'm well, all things considered... how is the frame?' I asked the A.I through the mental link that was connected between us.

 _'Everything has been replaced and all systems are fully operational master.'_

'Good, get ready, we're gonna have a bit of a problematic fight coming up in a few minutes; prep all available weapons to fire when I give the word... you can do that right?' I ended up asking hesitantly.

I actually wasn't sure as to what the A.I was here for yet so the question had to be asked.

 _'Of course, master; why would I not?'_ It actually asked the question in such a way I could imagine an anime styled girl tilting her head to a forty five degree angle with a confused look on her face. _'I am in control of all the weapon systems and targeting; to put it simply master I was designed to act as an assistant to compensate for a lack in compatibility between the pilot and the frame itself... much like yourself who at the moment only has a 30% compatibility rate.'_

'I was told, by you might I add, that that was enough.'

 _'For that particular scenario yes, a 30% compatibility was enough... but in a battle parametres can easily change which then may require a higher compatibility in order for the pilot to gain the maximum advantage; as you do not possess such compatibility at the present time master I will be here to control and direct the weapons while you focus on piloting and manoeuvring the Lightbringer around the battlefield.'_

'...the Lightbringer?'

 _'Yes master, it was added to the database approximately twelve hours ago to use as this units designated name... does the name displease you in any way?'_

'Not at all, just curious.' Indeed, what a curious name to give to the unit that was essentially a ship of sabotage but whatever, if this mysterious person wanted the frame to be called Lightbringer then I'm wasn't going to complain about it.

"Angel Wings, are you okay?" Tact's voice suddenly came through the comm connected to the bridge and a moment later a screen turned on to reveal his worried face. "Are the emblem frames okay?"

"The frames themselves are fine, Tact." Forte explained. "The issue is that the arms that set them have been damaged... only units 1, 2 and 8 are capable of being launched off." The sound of a 'che!' came through the speaker connected to the Happy trigger. "What's the enemies size and formation Tact?"

"Three unknown enemy fighters, though we can't get a clear lock on their position or system specs we know they're hiding behind a nearby asteroid." The next second an image of the nearby area came up on a new screen. It wasn't expertly detailed but that may have been due to that there really wasn't much out there to take not of. The key thing to note though was the large shape in the middle of the map that represented the asteroid and the _three_ orange arrows that represented the enemy fighters that were currently behind it.

Three arrows... three fighters...

What a happy coincidence huh?

Disregarding that, the three arrows were slowly moving around the asteroid on its- from our perspective- left side down to where we were.

"...Orders, Tact?" The words slipped from my mouth in a firm voice.

"Units lucky star, kung-fu fighter and... Lightbringer? When was unit 8 given a name? Anyway, you three are to hold off the fighters while the Elsior moves around the right side of the asteroid. We don't know what these ships are like so be extremely cautious when you engage. Understood?"

"Sir!"

* * *

'Hey... have you got a lock on the fighters yet?' I asked the A.I after a minute or so after taking off from the hanger. The Elsior had already crossed over half the distance towards the asteroid but the three of us hadn't engaged the Hellhounds yet. So far we've just been drifting around the area in a defensive formation with Ranpha and I slightly in-front of Milfie as the two of us possessed similar speed capabilities.

The idea of the formation was that when the enemy finally appeared the two of us would move on wither side of them in a flanking manoeuvrer while Milfie attacking from the front. The eventual movement would lead to a triangle shaped barrier around the enemy that would lead to them being attacked from three different angles.

It was a sound strategy and one that would hopefully take hold...

As long as the opponent was automated like it had been thus far- Minus Rezom but he didn't really count. A human opponent could pick it apart by have their squad disperse into three different directions to force a one on one battle between each ship.

This was likely how it was going to go as the Hellhounds were experienced mercenaries, meaning they'd likely have seen the tactic employed before and would know how to counter it.

 _'Negative, Master.'_ Came the response after a few moments. _'It is possible that they are using a stealth system similar to the one used by that machine you called the baby magnum; likely upgraded as even though they revealed themselves when they launched the missiles there is no sign of them on the scanners now.'_

This was true, while during the debriefing the orange arrows that represented the Hellhounds were visible. Now though they were nowhere to be seen. The only reason we were still defending this position was because before they'd vanished they were shown heading in our direction.

'What if it was a trick though? What if they only headed our way because they knew that their movements were visible to us and then they rounded up back to the other side when the signal vanished?'

 _'It is unlikely they are aware that we could track their movements.'_ The A.I replied. _'Their most likely strategy was that they expected us to move towards the right side so that they could follow and attack us from behind.'_

'Maybe, but I would have liked to have left one of us guarding the Elsior just to be safe.'

 _'...I concur, but we have our orders master.'_

'True enough.'

With that the conversation stopped. Her- it, it was an it!- voice faded from my mind and I felt h- it focus on the systems of the frame... don't ask how I felt that; I could just feel it through the connection between us.

With that in mind, I turned my attention back to what was happening outside. Ranpha seemed to be a bit restless judging from the way her frame was moving side to side while Milfie seemed content to just wait, as the lucky star was just drifting calmly.

I felt the tension in the air- an odd statement considering air didn't exist in space but I digress- as the wait began extending into the double digits; something that was clearly getting to Ranpha as she'd already broken formation and was flying around in a crazed spiral of random movements through the three dimensional capabilities of the frames.

It was starting to get to me too just watching. I could hearing my teeth clenching in my mouth and my breathing had become shallow as the adrenaline began piling up. Was this their tactic, to drive us to recklessness through the anxiety of making us wait for them to make their move?

If so... it was clearly working.

I eventually couldn't take it anymore, after a little over fifteen minutes of waiting, and and sent a comm link to the Elsior's bridge. "Tact, is there anything going on on your side? We've been left in the lurch over here."

"Nothing over here, we haven't seen any signs of the fighters either." Tact was clearly on edge too. His hands were balled into fists and a look of various emotions shone on his face. "Could they be waiting for reinforcements before attacking us?"

"For fifteen whole minutes? I doubt it, if they'd set this ambush only to wait for backup there clearly doing something wrong."

"Then what's going on?"

"...I don't know."

"...Well, just keeping monitoring the situation; I'm having Ranpha come back to the Elsior on the off chance they come from the other side so we at least have some defence."

"Wouldn't Milfie be a better choice for that? Both Ranpha's frame and mine are built primarily for speed at the cost of armour while Milfie is more well-rounded. With the Elsior limited in firepower it'd be better if she was there."

"The Elsior is also lacking in speed and manoeuvrability." Tact argued. "Ranpha's frame the kung-fu fighter, even though it lacks defence, is made for close quarters fighting while Milfie is better at all round combat. Yours,on the other hand, is aimed towards hit and run attacks so having you guard would be pointless and just put you in harms way. Ranpha is already moving anyway so..."

A laugh escaped my throat despite the situation. "Okay, I'm convinced; Milfie and I will keep monitoring things over here then."

"Alright then, let's-"

"Wow, I can't believe you guys are still here." Tact was cut off by a rather familiar feminine voice.

The next second a new screen opened up to reveal the face a girl probably the same age as me dressed in a full black jumpsuit that was connected to various ports and plugs in the cockpit she was in. Despite this bizarre look the natural beauty of her raven locks that fell below her neck along with a pair of heterochromia eyes; one being sky blue while the other was ocean green was still very much noticeable.

This person couldn't possibly be anyone but the mysterious girl that had spoken to me during that bizarre imaginary White moon audience hall.

But that _wasn't_ what caught my attention the most about the situation- since I'd already suspected that the third enemy would be her. No, what caught my-no, _all_ of our attention the most was what was on the _other_ screen that had popped up alongside the shot of the mysterious girl.

Wrapped in a colour of black that had it almost disappear within the vastness of space the obvious picture of an _emblem frame_ drifted alone with a backdrop of an ocean of stars behind it.

It was the end of all things.

It was what awaited at the final destination.

It was...

"Do you like it, members of the Transbaal empire? Meet _oblivion,_ GA unit 008 mkII." Throughout her little speech the girl gave off a bolster of confidence as her declaration shook us into complete, utter silence.

GA unit... 008... mkII...? How- why, did such a thing exist?

 _'Master...'_ Within the confines of my head the A.I spoke with... _fear_ in her voice. _'We can't win, master. We could try a thousand times in our current state but we would still fall; 100% guaranteed.'_

'Do you... know anything about that frame?'

 _'We are... siblings-twins, in a way; master. We were created at the same time when...'_

'When?'

 _'Data unavailable,'_ A cold, computerised voice came out from the normally emotive program. _'subject possesses inadequate compatibility rating to obtain level 4 class information. Please attempt at such a time as to when compatibility reaches: 80%.'_

…What. The. Fuck. I was fortunate nobody was focussing on me at that moment because I was sure the expression could have made a comedian proud.

Level 4 class information? What did that even mean?

...What exactly was locked inside this A.I's data-banks?

...No, I didn't have time to worry about that now. With what was currently on the screen I couldn't do anything but focus on the mysterious girl that was also from Earth.

But before I could do anything...

"We're hit!" Almo spoke up from the connection to the bridge. "D-deck has been breached- I repeat, D-deck has been breached- by anti-hull projectiles! Chrono engines power reduced to 60%! Entering emergency manoeuvres for escape and interception!"

WHAT!?

"Oh, looks like my comrades have already started their job at disabling the ship." From the screen the blacked-clad girl spoke up in a voice that sounded as if it was talking about the weather. "I predict you have two-three minutes until your engines are completely disabled and you are left to drift- leaving us in position to liberate the prince from your custody."

….Dammit. Things have been thrown out of proportion in comparison to the games again. First their was the make-shift object and now this!

"What will you do now, Commander Mayers?" Oblivious to my inner rant the girl continued. "Why not just surrender yourself and your crew? It will certainly prevent any needless loss of life onboard the Elsior when the damage reaches critical conditions."

Tact said nothing, his eyes were moving towards the various monitors that were placed throughout the bridge, likely inspecting the damage with his own eyes, as well as to the observation screen that was set to his side- likely to see how Ranpha- who was already at the Elsior- was doing.

Likely, she was being forced to fight against Camus and Guinness who were in their high-speed fighters on her own at the moment.

In that case...

"Milfie, go and help Ranpha." I spoke calmly. "She'll need your help keeping whatever or whoever is launching those anti-hull armaments at bay. I'll deal with this one in the mean time. That alright with you Tact?"

"...Alright. Milfie, come back to the Elsior. Will, fend off our new friend here."

He hadn't hesitated. In this situation where a wasted second could mean the difference between success or failure he took the first plan that was reasonably work. Whether his own plan that he was likely thinking up at that moment was different or similar in nature didn't matter.

A plan was presented and he had to work with it.

He was certainly learning how fights worked quickly it seems.

And then there was me, who once again broke rank and presented a plan on my own. Was this something that was normally acceptable? Was a soldier allowed to offer plans to his superiors during battle or was it their role to keep their ideas to themselves and just do what their bosses said to do?

...In the end, it didn't matter. The plan had been accepted and so that was what was going to happen.

Milfie didn't say anything. In a manner that was probably common for a soldier she didn't object and moved in position to the Elsior on the other side of the asteroid to assist Ranpha.

Leaving me and the girl to face off alone.

Wordlessly I switched off the connection to the bridge and turned my full attention to the screen that held the face of my... enemy or even opponent wasn't really the right word for this girl. Partner, maybe; was that right?

Were the two of us even partners or just people that were working together- meaning a colleague?

...You know what? Doesn't matter.

"So... Now that its just the two of us, mind tell me who you are? We didn't exchange names back in the dream and just calling you 'girl' would just be rude."

A small laugh. "True, I'm Sora, Hikari Sora- or Sora Hikari to you westerners. Nice to meet you my partner-in-crime."

"Partner-in-crime? Is that what we are? Anyway, I'm William Johnson- Johnson William to you guys and girls in the east. Its a pleasure Sora- Its okay to call you by your first name right?- to meet you in person; especially after that odd introduction."

"Again, true. It _was_ an odd way to talk to someone but I can only guess as to why that was possible to begin with- also sure, Sora's fine Will."

"Good..."

With that silence descended between us.

We both knew what was to happen next. While we were, as Sora put it, partners-in-crime it didn't change the fact that, at the moment, we were officially on opposite sides of the board.

Therefore, a fight between us was inevitable.

Even if neither of us wanted to.

Even if it was pointless in the end.

As people that had been dragged into this conflict against their own wishes, we could only play the parts that had been given to us- altering the script to suit our own agender and to, hopefully, lead things in a better direction non-withstanding.

With that in mind...

With allies and enemies alike watching us...

The pair of us clashed.

* * *

Within the confines of the Elsior bridge Tact watched on as the battle between Milfie, Ranpha and the unknown attackers sent by Eonia commenced around the Elsior. Whether due to the orders of Eonia himself or because the pair of angels were performing incredibly well, not a single attack had been shot at the Elsior after the pink-haired pilot had entered the battle.

If anything, the pilots of the unknown black fighters had immediately focussed entirely on the girls after Milfie had appeared.

It was almost as if their targets had been the girls to begin with...

But Tact couldn't focus on that line of thought. As the battle raged on he continued to give orders of positions for which the Elsior would travel around the battleground while being mindful of what was happening around them.

What was happening on the other side of the asteroid however...

"Why did Will cut the connection?" Coco's question sat on everyone's minds as they could only watch this screen that showed the two emblem frames- something that was still a shock and a concern in the operations teams minds.

Where had that frame come from?

What could have made it?

How did Eonia get his hands on it?

They didn't have the means to answer those questions and they doubted the Transbaal navy admirals would take comfort in the revelation either.

Regardless, they had bigger issues to deal with.

Will had, without explanation, cut the connection between him and the bridge- something that, while they could easily re-establish in less than a second, wasn't something that he should have done. As commander, Tact needed to be able to issue orders at a moments notice; something that wouldn't be possible if the connection was gone.

Will knew this... and had cut the connection anyway.

Why?

"...We can only trust he had good reasons." Came Tact's eventual answer.

The reason was simple.

When the two of them had originally met, the pair had shook hands. When that had happened, for whatever reason, Tact developed feelings of trust and confidence for the young man.

He felt that he was a brother that he had never had that he could rely on no matter what.

 _'His odd power... is likely why I said that.'_ The young commander concluded in his head. It had come instantly, despite his desire to say otherwise or to indicate an alternate reason to Will's actions.

 _No matter what he wanted to do or say, he could only answer positively and in confidence._

 _'I'm starting to understand Forte's mistrust. It really is impossible to argue with this power.'_

Despite that though... Tact couldn't say it felt off or that being unable to suspect Will due to it was bad.

Quite the contrary, whether the feeling was due to the power or not, he wanted to put his trust in Will.

Once again, the reason was simple.

He had seen how he and Vanilla had acted towards each other when the green-haired angel had been awake.

Those feelings, that atmosphere, couldn't possibly be fake.

Also, that scream. When Vanilla had been hit by that 'baby magnum' he had yelled for all to hear.

The raw emotion in that scream hadn't been artificial either.

For that alone, even if it was forced on him, he would trust the young man that had joined them through dubious circumstances.

For that young girl that was currently in a coma he would be willing to put his faith in him.

* * *

…What. The. Hell.

No, seriously; what the hell!

We had (likely) arrived in this galaxy/universe/dimension/whatever at the same time, had (likely) found our emblem frames at near enough the same time and (definitely) had the same amount of time and learning how to use it.

With that in mind...

WHY WAS SHE SO GOOD!?

Her reflexes, her split-second timing, her accuracy, her power, her overall compatibility; all of it was much, much more greater then mine!

How, how was that even possible!?

 _'Master! Incoming missile!'_

The A.I gave the warning two point three seconds before they appeared in view (don't ask how I managed to get that exact answer, I wouldn't know).

There were six of them. I knew nothing about what kind of missiles they may have been but I didn't need to to know that if they connected they were going to hurt.

Naturally my first instincts were to dodge... _but_ -

 _'Master, proximity mines have been shot around us in all directions except for the missiles path!'_

-she, Sora, had an answer for that.

Because of that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The battle- if it could be called that- had been like this throughout the five minutes we'd been engaged.

Sora would launch an attack, I would mentally plan to evade it, Sora would then launch a counter to the plan even though I hadn't even enacted it yet and leave me to take damage no matter what.

Every time, no exceptions.

It was really pissing me off.

'Fire missiles.' I commanded the A.I. 'They'll cancel each other out and leave the way clear'.

 _'Acknowledged.'_

Immediately after the exchange a barrage of projectiles shot from the battered, blackened wings of my originally silver frame towards the offending explosives.

Naturally, they connected and simultaneously detonated; leaving the area clear to escape the minefield. Without hesitation I moved forward and followed the trail of the _oblivion_ as it headed further away from the Elsior's location and into empty space.

Or at least what had been believed to be empty space.

'More mines?'

 _'Yes, master.'_

'Fire with the lasers; blow them to smithereens.'

 _'At once.'_

Once more the action was performed instantaneously. On upper side of the now indistinguishably coloured wings the small turret-looking weapons- of which only half were now operable or even attached- unleashed their attack upon the stationary targets.

A brilliant explosion occurred afterwards.

Almost immediately after that I pulled up with the joystick-like controls of the frame and moved in an _up_ ascension; taking full advantage of the 3-dimensional plane that came with flying a space fighter.

Almost on cue an attack that looked remarkably similar to a plasma shot from the baby magnum- just on a smaller scale- flew through the position I had just been in.

"So you guessed that huh? Not bad." In a completely undamaged _oblivion_ that had been, like me, unaffected by the explosion Sora spoke up a slightly mocking tone. "Was it that obvious?"

"Naturally," I answered back. "Leaving something like that out there and then _flying into it_ was just asking me to shoot them... and leave me vulnerable for a sneak attack afterwards. Standard fair; any person that's every played a strategy game could have figured that out from here."

"...I guess it _was_ too obvious." She easily consented. "Oh well, time for the fina-" She was interrupted mid-speech by the familiar sound of a holographic monitor opening to her left. While I couldn't see or hear who was on the line, judging from the increasing look of irritation she was developing it wasn't news she wanted to hear.

"But I was just-... fine; returning to base." She eventually said after around ten seconds of motionlessness. The screen seemed to turn off and she returned her gaze to me. "Guess that's it for today. Shame, I really wanted to show off this guys special... oh well, look forward to next time~"

With that she gave a cheeky wink and, in the next moment, turned _oblivion_ away form me and flew away.

I didn't bother pursuing her.

* * *

 **Well, that's it everyone. A little on the short side this one was but like I said in the last chap- god that was so long ago...- this one was built around the entire 'battle' with the hellhounds- something that was a far less apparent here then in the game as, while in the game the fight could take less then ten seconds (not joking there; you just need to get one of either Camus or Guinness' health down to half and that's that- something easily do-able if the girls both hit the same one), in this the regular fight was ignored entirely and the fight between the partners-in-crime wasn't even a fight.**

 **...Still, this is how it turned out and so that's how its going to be. I probably had some kind of plan for this fight when the last chap came out but- at the time- exams had me side-tracked and motivation just vanished until recently; like I said up-top.**

 **Still, I hope you guys enjoyed the story parts of the chapter and please; do eagerly await the next one whenever it may come out.**

 **Until then, do R &R and I'll be seeing ya :) **


	12. Chapter 10

**Hey Everyone... sorry this is a week late; don't really have an excuse as to why, is just was. Hope you can forgive me on that.**

 **Anyway, let's get on with the probe arc shall we?**

 **Will: Is that really what you're calling it?**

 **That's what it is isn't it? The main focus of this chapter, the main conflict, was with the mystery of the probe while giving focus on Ranpha so the player could see what she was like after all.**

 **Will: ...true enough, I guess.**

 **Exactly.**

 **...Anyway, I'd like to take this time to welcome a new colleague within this small meta-universe that oversees everything-**

 **Will: Wait, what!?**

 **-do give a round of applause for Andrew Foas ladies and gentleman!**

 ***As a round of applause comes from nowhere A man in his late teens with short chocolate hair that reaches to the back of his neck walks through a door placed in a corner of the room. His turquoise eyes give off a hint of intelligence and his slightly larger than average hands show signs of expertise with tools and electrical equipment. He is as tall as Will and is dressed in the crewmen uniform worn by those on the Elsior.**

 **Andrew gives a bow to the invisible audience and walks to stand next to Will.***

 **Will: ...Foas?**

 **I took the first two letters from Foie and the last two from Gras from the desert Foie Gras to make it so it fits- somewhat- into the way Broccoli named their characters.**

 **Will: Ah, thanks for the clear-up.**

 **Andrew; Nice to meet you, sir. *gives a salute***

 **Will: ...Please don't do that, Andrew. Not a fan of formalities.**

 **Andrew: Alright, good to meet you regardless.**

 **Will: Likewise.**

 **Nice to see you two getting on.**

 **Andrew: So then, what exactly is my purpose in this story of yours? I've read the original script already and I certainly wasn't included in it. What changed?**

 **...Stuff.**

 **Andrew: That isn't an answer.**

 **No, but its the only one you're getting while the audience is watching us over there.**

 **Andrew: About that, how exactly is it that they can see us or can enter this place. From what I understood this place isn't-**

 **Hey hey! That's spoilers! Don't go into that level of detail!**

 **Andrew: You created me to be this way, do not blame me for the personality you put into my head.**

 **...Touché.**

 **Will: Can we hurry this opening up already? We're already gone over 400 words** **into this alone and I don't think the readers will appreciate us taking so much time here when they could be reading the story.**

 **True, sorry for keeping you guys waiting. You can meet Andrew properly when he shows in the chapter itself-**

 **Andrew: Wait, you still haven't explained my role.**

 **At the end! We're still keeping the boys and girls waiting while we prattle on here!**

 **Andrew: You say that and than add needless words just to make it longer.**

 **Why do all my OC's dislike me!?**

 **Sora: I like you.**

 **AH! Where'd you come from!?**

 **Sora: The door was-**

 **Finish that joke and I'm throwing you out!**

 **Sora: ...Fine.**

 **Let's just get on with things!**

* * *

Chapter 10: The Engineer

By the time I returned to the hanger repairs for the frames arms were already underway and the rest of the girls were standing a little ways away to let the engineers work. Looks of dissatisfaction sat on both Milfies and Ranphas faces while their frames both had several scorch marks from missile blasts and bullet fire.

Lightbringer- I momentarily blinked in realisation I was already calling it that in my head before shrugging and continuing on- was in a bad shape on my end. Both wings had been dented and twisted from the force of repeated explosive blasts from both the mines and the missiles that had hit the poor girl while I simply hung on for dear life, One or two of the chrono engines and boosters had been hit during a particularly nasty blast which had decreased the overall speed of the frame by a full third of its full power and several other problems the A.I had informed me of had occurred as well.

In short, she was extremely beat up.

And I was drowned in a sense of shame.

I had been thoroughly trounced and beaten in that engagement. Throughout the five minute bout between us I hadn't managed to hit Sora even once, only being able to launch the occasional attack to off-set some of her own like with the missiles or too blast apart traps like what I'd done with the mines at the end.

In other words, I'd only been able to attack when Sora had _let_ me attack.

She'd played me throughout it all and there hadn't been a damned thing I could do to change things around.

I had to improve, to bring my overall compatibility with Lightbringer up to the highest it could be. With this being a new, unknown frame who knows what it reaches its highest level of power.

For sure, at the very least, I'll be able to match that girl in combat if I manage it.

...I was actually already missing hearing the A.I's voice echoing in my head as I made that inner declaration. It almost felt kind of empty without it answering back...

I shook my head to clear that thought away. It was an attachment to my frame that was there to help me in a fight, nothing more... right?

For just a moment, I left my head turn back to face the frame before turning back and heading to where the rest of the girls were.

And then...

 _'Thank you for the thought, master.'_

I swear I heard it speak even when it should have been impossible.

 _Subject William Haraway- current name Johnson- compatibility rating had increased to: 40%_

 _class two level data and functions now accessible._

 _Commencing with..._

I reached the girls just as Tact came out from the door leading to the main hallway of D-deck. I small smile sat on his face as he approached us.

"Good work on repelling them everyone. Damage, I've been told, is minimum to the chrono engines but it will still take a few hours before they are capable of handling the strain for going through chrono-drive. Until the engineering crew can give the all clear we'll need you guys to stay here in D-deck just in case a second wave shows up but unless that happens you can consider yourself on break."

"That's good." Ranpha breathed out with a long breath. "Dealing with that guy while we were fighting was a pain in the ass and made me sweat far more than I should have. I'm going to take a shower." With that Ranpha walked out the hanger towards the locker room.

Hey, isn't this when the probe takes a picture of Tact to take on his appearance? Maybe I should stick around and keep an eye out for it.

Okay then, let's-

"Will," Tact suddenly spoke up to me, taking em out of my thoughts and making me realise that everyone else had already left- well, Forte and Mint had left anyway, Milfie was by the Lucky star with a tool box next to her. "I need to talk to you about what happened during the battle."

It took me a few moments to realise he was talking about the comm cut-off. "About that..." I was at a lost over what to say. On one hand I couldn't exactly let anyone on the bridge hear about what had been said between Sora and me but on the other hand it really wasn't something I should have done...

I truly couldn't speak.

"Its alright," Contrary to my expectations over the situation Tact simply gave another smile before patting me on the shoulder. "I'm sure you had your reasons for it."

This was wrong, he shouldn't have been this cool with it. He should have been questioning me for placing me under guard at least.

And yet he wasn't, and only one thing could be the reasoning for it.

 _That power_.

As if he were reading my mind however Tact continued. "It's not because of that... okay, I can't really say that but its not the only reason for it." At seeing my confused expression he continued. "Let's just say a certain green-haired girl shows your true colours."

Leaving it at that Tact made his way out of the hanger.

...Huh, never would have seen that coming.

…

...Wait, the probe!

* * *

Within the engine room on D-deck Andrew Foas wiped some sweat off his brow while holding a power tool in his hand and a box of other needed tools by his left side.

Andrew was one of the few male crewmen that worked on the Elsior. The reason for this being that only woman were allowed to work on the white moon itself (these women were known as the 'moon priestesses'). Andrew was on the Elsior due to him having originally been a member of Commodore Luft's forces when he originally joined the Elsior as its acting commander and had been one of the crew members left behind when he'd fled to buy time.

Andrew had, so far, enjoyed his time on the Elsior. It was a beautiful ship, the girls he worked with were lovely in both personality and looks (he was a guy, a teenager at that, so of course he was going to comment on a woman's beauty in his mind) and he got to work on the pinnacle of lost technology- a job that every aspiring engineer dreamed of.

Yes, Andrew's ambition was to become a leading engineer in terms of lost technology. He had originally joined the satellite defence fleet (Luft's original position) As the satellites had been one of the first- and only- weapon-styled lost technology that had been uncovered in the greater galaxy outside the White moon. While he wasn't exactly sure what had been found (a blueprint or a working model) he did know that the expedition had been dangerous and was what had led to the ban of searching for other lost technology; which in turn had led to Eonia being exiled due to his views of it.

In a way, Andrew couldn't blame the exiled prince; while what he was doing now was beyond horrible and unjustifiable stopping the search for LT just because it was dangerous was beyond stupidity in his eyes. In one wishes to progress certain risks have be taken into account and accepted.

-Take the original expedition of the white moon for example; those who had originally scouted it out would have had no way of knowing it was safe and yet had gone looking anyway.

That single accepted risk had led the Empire to where it was now. If they wanted to make the empire better and more prosperous, the same risk had to be taken.

...A least, that was how Andrew saw it; not that he would ever admit such a thing.

Eonia had been exiled for such views, he'd in turn would likely be court-martialed if his own came to light.

And so he remained silent and walked on what LT that the empire did have.

And now, here he was working on the Elsior.

He'd definitely made the right choice.

"Andrew," Looking over his shoulder at hearing a familiar voice he found his boss, Creta Biscuit, hunched over (showing off her rather sizeable bosom, not that he paid attention to it) working on some of the circuits in the engine next ot the one he was working on.

"Yes, boss?"

"I thought I told you to call me Creta young man, no need for formality here."

"Forgive me, my father was military and always insisted on formality in the house."

"Your father... admiral Steiner right? Saw him in a conference on the net once; man was the atmosphere in that room downright cold."

"Its just the man he is."

"Don't make excuses for him; I'm surprised a man like that even found a wife to begin with."

A frown of irritation stretched over Andrew's face. "Could we not insult my mother's judgement in choosing a partner, _boss_? I'll get mad if you don't stop."

"Alright, alright." Creta quickly relented. "In any case, you figured out the problem on your end yet?"

Andrew didn't answer right away, instead opting to look over the array of wires and cables stretched out over his narrow vision. What he was looking at was one of the damaged parts that connected to the chrono engines that had been damaged during the battle just now.

On the whole there was nothing truly wrong with it. There was no risk of an overload or of an explosion due to backed up pressure from the damage or anything like that Nor were there any forcibly crossed wires or ripped off cables that needed replacing.

No, the problem was...

"One of the chrono strings has been disconnected." The young man notified after thirty seconds of intense study. "Its flailing around with sparks coming out- thankfully not hitting any cables- and occasionally hitting some of the other strings... I don't have the proper equipment for fixing that."

Let me explain, a chrono string is a core component in the running and powering of a chrono engine of any sort. In short, it is a tube filled with supposed fragments of energy that had caused the creation of the universe that had somehow been harvested by the people of Eden- the mother kingdom and the 'parent' to the Transbaal empire. A single chrono string possessed tremendous power and energy within itself, enough to leave a crater in a planet should it be used as a bomb... at least in theory; no one had been stupid enough to try it out.

And with one of the engines four strings unhooked...

"Wait, what!?" Worry immediately entered Creta's tone and the image of the woman of 24 years flailing her arms in panic entered the teens mind for a moment beofre he threw it away.

Not the time for jokes, this could end very, _very_ badly.

Forget just an explosion, if a single one of the Elsior's engines actually detonated due to a chrono string the entire sector would wiped from the map in an instant, leaving nothing but the particles of energy remaining to be gathered at another time.

In other words, they really had to hurry up.

"Creta," Andrew spoke calmly even in the face of potential destruction. "Pass me the chrono gloves, I'll need to manually put the string back into place."

Creta immediately complied and grabbed a pair of synthetic fibre gloves that released a faint blue light alongside the where the fingers slipped in. On the part where the nails would be rather sharp tweezer-like appendages served as nails. Andrew slipped on the gloves and immediately went to work as quick and efficiently as possible.

-The chrono gloves were a piece of tech that had been designed in the management of chrono strings. As chrono strings possessed such power in such small particles using ones own fingers and nails to ensure the transfer and care of said particles was impossible.

Hence the creation of the chrono gloves.

The 'nails' could pick up the particles of energy without risk of destruction due to a pulse the small cores in each individual nail emitted to stabilize the particles when released into the air while the materials of the gloves acted as a shock absorption that all but cancelled out the kinetic energy going into the particles when picked up.

Not many pairs of these gloves existed due to the actual material of the gloves being relatively unknown to exist anywhere within the Transbaal empire- the only pairs they had (only ten of them) had been found within the White moon when they'd originally found the emblem frames and the Elsior themselves.

Back to the matter at hand, Andrew used the gloves properties to safely contain any released particles back into the tube before then moving it very carefully back into place, clamping the safety back on while he did so.

This hadn't been the fist time he'd had to use the chrono gloves. Very occasionally,the strings within some of the emblem frames had to be fixed up and he'd used the gloves then. He didn't get to work on the frames that often but whenever he did he found himself having a blast with looking through the complexity of the design and structure within.

So far, the frames he'd worked on were Lucky star, trick master and harvester. Kung-fu fighter hadn't been in need of looking at and Happy trigger had been reserved for only the senior engineers only due to the total bulk of the weapons on it.

As for that _other_ frame... he hadn't worked on that either.

"Good work." After Andrew managed to drag himself out of the service hatch each engine had equipped on Creta spoke up. "I think you've earned yourself a break with that one mister."

Andrew felt one of his eyebrows rise. "Are you sure? I can-"

"That's an order Andrew." Not allowing him to finish Creta gave her subordinate a smile before taking the gloves off him and heading over the next engine; having finished her own repairs on the one she'd been working on already.

"But-"

"Why don't you relax in the lounge for a bit? We're nearly done here so we'll be able to enter chrono after an hour or two after the engines themselves cool down." With that Creta walked off.

"...I may as well then." Muttering to himself Andrew left the engine room.

* * *

"We're fine Will, no need for you to worry."

"They'd hit D-deck pretty hard, how was I not to worry?" Cera conceded that point while passing me a cup of coffee with her left hand while holding another cup in her right.

If you couldn't guess already I was in the Infirmary. Since I wasn't technically off duty just yet in the off chance of a second attack from Eonia's forces- something I wasn't really counting on- I'd ended up going over to my secondary post there to past the time.

The reason I'd chosen here instead of looking for the wayward probe _as I should have been doing_ was because I was expected to be working at the moment until the engines were fully prepared and we were in chrono-drive... that said, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one actually working. The rest of the girls didn't have jobs they had to do besides piloting so, even though we were still on alert, they were all probably relaxing somewhere on the deck until we entered chrono.

Oh well, I'd volunteered to be here when not piloting so it was here I would wait. Besides... it gave me a chance to check on Vanilla for any signs of change.

There had been none.

...Thankfully, on the positive side of things, there had miraculously been no injuries to the crew in the attack so I was essentially free to relax until I could leave.

So I was spending the time talking to Cera over some things.

"By the way Doc, you never mentioned where you're from." I mentioned after a few moments silence. "You know my story- to a degree- but I've yet to hear anything from you. Care to share?"

Cera blew on the warm mug in her hands and took a sip. "There isn't much to say really. I was born on Transbaal into a long line of doctors, surgeons, neurologists- essentially, medicine was in my families blood. My father served as the head of the Grand royal medical centre in Transbaals capital and my mother served directly as the personal doctor for queen Veronica..." Cera became silent and her sentence trailed off. It wasn't difficult to understand why."

"Was she..."

"...Yes."

"...I'm sorry for your loss, Cera."

A broken smile appeared on the good doctors lips. "Thank you Will... now where was I? Oh right, well besides my family..."

The conversation continued from there, and I learned a lot more about Cera than I ever had playing the games.

* * *

Andrew walked through the halls of D-deck on his own. While several other crewman other than himself had been given a break after the gruelling work on the engines the rest of them had broken off towards the nearby elevator that would give them an easy trip over to B-deck where they were going to the mess hall for a well deserved meal.

He had been invited to join but he had declined; not because his disliked his fellow crewmen but because he rather enjoyed the walk between decks- plus he found the stairways far safer than a tight space like an elevator that could break down at any time... or maybe he just didn't like elevators.

Let's go with that shall we?

Anyway, because of this choice Andrew was now on his own, leaving him ample time to collect his thoughts on some things.

Like their latest pilot for instance.

Andrew, like many of the crew, were unsure on how to consider William Johnson. On the one hand it was clear that we was on their side since we had willingly entered danger to prevent the Elsior's destruction when they'd been stupefied by that odd turret and was clearly looking to help considering that he was right now currently in the infirmary with Dr Cera to assist with his- apparently- limited medical knowledge due to having been a med student for a time.

And on the other hand... there was what he had done to Lieutenant Vanilla H. Andrew had spoken to the girl only once before her... transformation but what he had gained from the encounter was that she was a very dependable girl despite her age; if a little hard to approach due to her way of dealing with her nano machines.

When Johnson had appeared her change had been apparent to such a degree that it was staggering. For one, the pair of them had been connected at the hip and for another they acted like those couple seen in cheap, romance films and novel .

It was, to him, disgusting that he had _somehow altered her very personality_ and yet was allowed to not only be able to wander free but also be allowed to pilot the ever elusive unit 8- and could even fly it without any formal training.

In conclusion, he was a person to be watched closely and with extreme caution...

Or so he believed, reality of course was vastly different to what he believed should be done about him.

He couldn't change his superiors mind and truly he didn't believe he deserve too. He was a mere engineer after all; questioning his superiors wasn't something he was at liberty to do.

With that belief binding him to the core Andrew turned a corner and entered the last corridor he needed to pass when...

"Commander Mayers, sir!" A familiar blue head man appeared in his vision.

In truth he didn't like Commander Mayers, the man disliked formality and appeared to be lazy in nature as opposed to assertive and authoritative like a true leader should be.

Again though, it wasn't in his nature to speak out against superiors. So he simply saluted as any good subordinate should.

Contrary to his expectations however the Commander ignored him entirely and simply walked past without so much as giving him a glance.

That... had been odd. As much as disliked the man he knew he wasn't the type of person to ignore someone even if its just passing by in the hallways.

And yet this time he had been ignored.

Why?

A question appeared in Andrew's mind even as he continued on his way.

He wouldn't do anything with it though.

He was a man that obeyed his superiors after all.

* * *

"AH!" Our conversation was cut short with a very feminine cry.

"Wasn't that... Ranpha?" I got off from my seat and made my way to the door.

"You sure you should go?"

"I was told to stay in D-deck; I only came here because this is my station when no fighting." I explained as I went out into th hallway. "Don't worry Cera, I'll be back after I see what's going on."

With that I walked out and made my way to the locker room where the girls and Tact were already waiting outside.

"Hey, I heard a scream; what happened?"

Tact was twitching slightly in embarrassment. "W-well..."

"You didn't peek on the poor girl did you?"

"What!? No! How could-"

"I hear a girl scream and I see a guy outside the room she's in all jittery and nervous; what am I supposed to think?"

The girls gave off a manner of giggles under their breath while Tact's face became akin to a tomato. Before he could retort however Ranpha burst out of the locker room with daggers in her eyes levelled in Tact's direction. Her rushed done-up hair looked more akin to a volley of yellow spikes than a golden waterfall.

It made for a bit of a scary image to be honest.

"Uh, Ran-"

"Die pervert!" Before I could even get a word in the homing missile Ranpha called her fist shot with the speed of a bullet into his gut, curled around while still implanted, and hurled him across the hall until he hit the opposing wall _over 10 metres away_ with a thud.

...This is bad, Ranpha's seriously pissed!

"Hey!" I yelled before I could stop myself. "What the hell was-"

"Don't get in my way! That perverts getting what he deserves!" She didn't even listen to reason. Not even turning in my direction she launched another mach speed level punch towards my head.

Not good not good not good not good not good not good!

I frantically dived to the side, feeling the sharp gust of wind her fist carried along with it just above my head where she'd aimed at. Not seeing any other choice in the matter I immediately went in to tackle her by the waist; dragging her to the-

! Before I even saw it a foot embedded itself into my stomach, lifting me off the ground for a few seconds and dropping me 5 metres away.

That... hurt. I couldn't stop myself from coughing up a little bile. My legs felt shaky and my vision was woozy. I thought I could hear voices yelling but I wasn't able to make it out.

After several seconds I managed to shake off my dizziness and got back to my feet. A quick look over saw Tact just getting back to his own feet as well while on the other side of the conveniently large hall both Forte and Milfie- I'm not lying here- had sprung into action to dog-pile on Ranpha in an attempt to keep her down.

It didn't work out so well.

Ranpha let out a scream of rage and threw the pair of them off after a few moments of struggle. She turned her eyes over to where Tact and I were and charged like a mad bull.

Big mistake.

Acting quickly I pivoted to my side, held a foot up slightly and waited for about 0.5 seconds until Ranpha came next to me.

She couldn't evade it in time. Ranpha ran over the foot, was tripped and went sprawling over the floor in a roll heading towards the wall Tact had been at before he'd moved.

She hit it with a bang and fell to the floor motionlessly.

"...I think we should move her to the infirmary- maybe add some restraints... just in case."

I wasn't met with any disagreements.

Meanwhile, Andrew heard some noise and a crash or two but ultimately decided not to investigate.

* * *

 **Well, that's that guys. A bit on the short side again but really, I felt adding any more after that ending would be just dragging this chapter on (it certainly felt like I was dragging it longer than necessary to me) so I ended up just leaving it like this.**

 **Will: Don't you think that reaction was an overreaction though? Ranpha didn't do anything near as bad as this in the game.**

 **True, but imagine this for a minute: your teammate is out cold, your ships engines are damaged after having been followed up by 15 minutes of anxiety inducing waiting within a confined space while floating in the big emptiness that is space. I think someone like that would be really stressed out, don't you?**

 **Will:... Okay, you win there.**

 **Thank you.**

 **Now then, I hope you enjoyed Andrew's introduction everyone. He'll be considered a secondary protagonist on sections that won't involve space combat because I am not, I repeat; am NOT giving him an emblem frame full stop. I've already pulled two extra frames out ym ass for this; adding another (especially when Andrew's a very recent addition to the team), would just be BS that I'm not dealing with.**

 **Will: And yet the extremely odd psychic powers are just being kept in.**

 **THEY'RE. NEEDED. FOR. THE. PLOT!**

 **Will: Sure they are, just like Andrew is.**

 **If you're gonna be scrutinising me than get out.**

 **Will: Sure, see ya.**

 ***Will walks out.***

 **...I didn't mean literary.**

 ***Sigh***

 **Oh well, Andrew's busy so he can't-**

 **Andrew: I am right here, creator.**

 **-...Never mind.**

 **Andrew: You have still not answered my question, creator. What is my purpose in this story?**

 **How exactly am I supposed to tell you that without spoiling things; especially with the readers watching?**

 **Andrew: Let them know. Keeping secrets is but a way to make enemies.**

 **...You've never read a mystery novel before have you? Knowing everything form the beginning would ruin the whole experience.**

 **Andrew: This is not a mystery novel. This is a retelling of a trilogy of games created by a Japanese company known as BROCCOLI with added plot elements and characters.**

 **...You said you read the script. You should know this isn't just a retelling; that'd defeat the purpose of fanfiction.**

 **Andrew: Retelling, AU; it matters very little what it is. Our issue is that you're holding information back from me and the audience.**

 **Again, that's the point. Why don't you-**

 **Andrew: Just admit you added me for no reason and I'll drop it.**

 **Never!**

 **Andrew: Then we are at an impasse then... why don't we close the curtain for now so we can... discuss this privately between us,** ** _creator_** **.**

 **...Very well (Goddammit, why can't my characters act nice towards me!?)**

 **...Hope you enjoyed yourself everyone. See you next time.**


	13. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone, sorry this is a week late again. I got tied up into the new To aru new testament novel and it took up a bit of my time.**

 **Anyway, after having a** ** _chat_** **with Andrew regarding his existence he's agreed to stay out of these talks for a while while he calms down-**

 **Will: You mean recovers from the head trauma you caused him.**

 **He struck first, I merely defended myself.**

 **Will: Yeah, with a sledgehammer. How'd you even pick that up anyway, you rarely built up muscles.**

 **I've always been strong, even if I never worked the muscles out. That's why**

 **Will: *shrugs* If you say so.**

 **I do.**

 **At any rate, I'm not gonna take up your time like I did last intro so I'll be ending this here and will see you at the bottom.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 11: The chase is on

"Now then, how about you tell us what that was about okay Ranpha?"

We were in the infirmary. After picking up the unconscious tank of mass destruction that was Ranpha we headed to the closest place we could put her down without risk of her just jumping right back up and going into punch-punch mode on Tact again for the probes peeping tendencies that had caused the original scream to break out.

The infirmary in particular had been chosen as it had a bed we could put her on before tying her up with some handcuffs Forte had on her for whatever reason... does she always carry those on her person?

...What am I talking about? This is Forte we're talking about here.

Of course she does.

Anyway, five minutes after we got her nice and settled into her bed Ranpha finally woke up and immediately attempted the following things:

First, she bolted upright in a manner so quick she immediately flew back onto the bed after the cuffs got caught on the sides after being stretched to the max.

Second, after leaning back up she immediately zoomed her vision on Tact and attempted to rip the cuffs off only to receive a slap by Forte who levelled a glare that shook her a little and caused her to stop struggling.

Third, she looked over to me and gave me a glare of her own that wasn't really that intimidating- though that was likely because she was handcuffed and so was unable to actually do anything to me from across the room to her.

This had all happened within the first twenty seconds of her waking up.

Now back to the present.

After hearing my question she looked towards Tact again and sent the same glare she'd sent me at him; only this time, due to the circumstances, Tact actually shook a little and etched a little backwards as if she could somehow still hit him while being strapped to the bed.

"That guy," The glare intensified. "Peeked on me while I was in the shower!"

Silence. The girls (as well as Cera who was watching the whole thing while holding in a laugh) turned towards the falsely accused commander. If looks could kill... he'd had been disintegrated by now; everyone but Milfie (who was looking almost... betrayed, am I reading that right?) shot lasers out their eyes at him.

As for me...

"...You know I was kidding when I said that right?"

I tried to crack a joke.

"N-No I didn't! I'm innocent!" Naturally Tact, rightfully, defended against such a statement.

"Don't lie! When I walked out the shower I saw you standing there!"

"I never even walked into the shower room! I heard you yell, ran into the locker room and saw..." He stopped there and looked away with a soft blush.

"...So you saw her in a towel then?" I asked despite knowing the answer. "That still classifies as peeping there Tact."

"It was an accident!" he retorted. "I only went in there because I heard Ranpha shout."

"And yet she claims she saw you in the locker; something that, if it did happen, couldn't be refutable since we all know what you look like Mr Commander." Forte rejected Tact's rebuttal; something that inwardly surprised me since in the game they all just laughed it off.

I guess the attack on the engines from the heel hounds shook them up more than the game portrayed... which also explains Ranpha's actions when you think about it.

When you're stressed you do tend to lash out in anger over the smallest of things after all; I'd learned that during exam time when I was doing my A-levels.

"...Can you have anyone vouch for you that you weren't in the shower room Tact? Did you talk with anyone before you went over there?" I had to act as the voice of reason here otherwise we'll end up with Tact locked up which won't end well.

"No, I didn't meet with anyone when I was in the corridors." Another change, in the game he met up with Kuromie just before Ranpha screamed. Why didn't he...

Oh right, he'll be watching over animals over himself at the moment since the attack on the deck was worse this time.

There goes that option.

"Hang on, but I saw you earlier Tact and you ignored me." So spoke Mint- I remember her saying that in the game too.

"E-even Mint... I beg for understanding here." Tact slouched over in self-concern. He had no alibi and two accounts of odd behaviour... hang on, this was perfect.

"Hmm... is it possible the enemy sent in some kind of sabotage unit while the fight was taking place?" I offered in Tact's defence. This was perfect, now I could offer the idea of the probe without giving suspicion! "Maybe some kind of automated machine or something; did the military ever have anything like that in their closets?"

Silence reigned once again. Looks of realisation came across everyone faces as if the answer had literary slapped everyone in the face.

"An optical camouflage probe!" The answer was yelled out by everyone in the room but me.

"A what now?"

"Its a probe mainly used for recon missions by using 3-D imaging to mimic humans; perfect for infiltrating the ship... as for how it got onboard..."

"The missiles," Mint replied. "The ones that hit the hanger and the ones that hit the engines were of different design; meaning that were used for different objectives."

Tact- "The anti-hull missiles to stop us in our tracks..."

Ranpha- "...And the missiles hiding the probe to get control from the inside."

Forte- "I hate to admit it... but its a good plan."

"But now we know what we're looking for." I pointed out. "Tact, it might be best if you go somewhere, like your office, until we catch this thing. That way, we know we're getting _it_ and not you."

Tact nodded to the request easily. "Alright, I'll explain the situation to the bridge to get the ship on alert about... well, me and then hide away. Everyone, I'll be counting on you to find the probe in the meantime."

"Sir!"

With that, the plan was set into motion.

* * *

Andrew was enjoying a well earned coffee when the notice was sent across the ship.

"Attention! All crew members are to keep watch for commander Tact Mayers! He have reason to believe an imposter has boarded the ship and has disguised themselves with his appearance! If any crewmen is to see the commander report immediately through your portable communicators directly to the bridge!"

Such were the words that came from the ships loudspeakers.

 _'...Won't that give the opposite effect? That broadcast would have been sent across the whole ship; meaning that the enemy will have heard it too... leading them to panic and act in an irregular manner. Ah, so that was it... wait, if the opponent is a infiltration unit it is likely a optic probe; meaning that its best course of action will be to copy the image of a regular crewmen and blend in.'_

While Andrew thought this the announcement continued.

"It is advised that crewmen move in groups while searching for the imposter. The enemy has been estimated to be an optical infiltration probe that copies a humans image- any person not found to be in a group... will be immediately quarantined and imprisoned in the Elsior's storage bay. That is all."

With that the speakers switched themselves off.

...Andrew's immediate response was to get up from his seat and head over to where his fellow crewmen were sitting with serious expressions on their faces- a rare thing among the crew if you weren't Andrew.

Upon reaching them his words were sharp and too the point. "You heard the bridge. Let us split into two groups to scour the deck for this impersonator."

A series of nods was his only answer.

* * *

As there were six of them they split into two groups of three. While it may have been slightly more practical to split into three groups of two since they were likely dealing with a mechanical opponent it would likely be stronger than two ordinary men; making it so that they would be outclassed in a two v one match.

The possibility it could fight and win a three v one battle was also present but it was a slim chance at most. It was an infiltration unit after all; its goal was to blend in, not to battle.

At any rate, one group, led by a female crew member named Amber Ricefield, headed over to the west side of the deck from the lounge towards the cafeteria before moving towards the convenience store while the second group led by Andrew headed towards the main hall of the deck that contained the elevators that moved between the Elsior's various decks.

B-deck was among the smallest of the Elsior's decks, as such these were the only truly notable landmarks. However, it was an essential one to keep track of. The elevator hall connected the deck to all over ones on the ship; meaning that, if one held the elevators in check, they could limit the movement of their opposition.

Hence why Andrew had chosen to take up that area. While he didn't generally use them outside his work stations he carried a series of tools with them in the off chance he had to repair something- something that had happened once or twice while in the presence of Lieutenant Sakuraba due to her luck.

His plan was simple:

He would call in to the bridge to gain permission to... 'tamper' with the elevators in order to lock them down while the chase was on (roll credits... I'm not apologising ;p) essentially locking them down without risk of deactivating necessary systems as would happen should the crew on the bridge do so...

As to why that would happen, the apparent reason was that the bridge, should the authorisation from the ships commander be given, could lock down an entire deck form the rest of the ship by switching off the fluctuation of power that was sent to that deck to other decks which, in turn, would release the shutters that were strong enough to survive an orbital missile strike and possessed a high enough melting point to avoid being melted by laser or plasma fire across the stair cases to that deck as well as shut off elevator access to that particular deck.

However, that would also massively reduce life support and other mandatory systems that would eventually lead to the death of any organic life still within that deck if not released with three hours.

That wasn't a situation anyone on the ship wanted so Andrew had to come up with a improvised method by possibly disconnecting the power cables to deactivate the elevators altogether or by messing with the door mechanisms to keep them locked.

Either one would do.

With that in mind, when they finally managed to reach the elevator hall, he immediately went to work after getting permission to work on them.

With that, fast travel between decks was shut off.

* * *

Meanwhile, the group led by Amber Ricefield moved to the convenience store after leaving the cafeteria upon confirming that the imposter hadn't been sighted there. Amber, like almost all of the female crew members, had been one of the moon priestesses; having been drawn by the idea of working alongside the divine and holy mother Shatoyan as well as discovering whatever other secrets the white moon may have been hiding from the people of Transbaal.

Amber, like her name suggested, had amber coloured hair and eyes. She possessed an average height of a female within the 20-24 age range while also possess a modest chest. Her main characteristic that would be defined as 'sexy'- as some of her male co-workers had called it- was her aforementioned amber hair that flowed down to her middle back like a blazing inferno.

Amber adored her hair. It was the one trait she shared with her mother who she rarely got to see due to her work as a model for the longest lasting clothing lines company that wasn't imported from other worlds in the Empire but was from the capital of Transbaal itself.

As she wasn't much into fashion Amber couldn't recall the exact name of the clothing brand but she knew it was considered popular by most age and gender groups.

Back to the present though, Amber was currently moving cautiously through the hallways of B-deck with her two co-workers (both male) close behind her. All three were moving with their knees slightly bent in order to be slightly crouched in order to reduce the amount of noise they were making as much as possible.

It was also the reason none of them were talking.

While Amber may not have been a member of the military she had always been a quick learner, hence why was she able to become a moon priestess in the first place, and as such had been able to pick up on basic stealth procedures as soon as she was shown them by her two partners who had, before joining the satellite defence fleet, had been part of the Empire's recon division.

That, on top of being one the crewmen that frequently ran through B-deck on a regular base led to her being chosen as the leader of their little group despite having no experience in it.

Anyway, it was just as they were about to turn the bend of the hallway they were in when they spotted their target.

Just as communications officer Almo had reported, an exact duplicate of commander Tact Mayers stood looking at them slightly slack-jawed. Amber had no real opinion on the man but she did think that he at least was a competent leader in terms of crisis.

Regardless of her opinions though, this _wasn't_ the commander but an enemy.

Therefore:

Almost silent 'Bang' sounds flew past her ear as a pair of brilliant vermilion streams of light flew past her ears towards the imposter at the speed of light.

-Laser weapons. More specifically, a standard laser pistol given to every member of the Transbaal as a mandatory part of their training. As a moon priestess Amber did not have a weapon nor was she qualified to carry one but she was aware that most energy weapons ran on energy cells; small battery-like cartridges that held within it a small portion of transferred energy from an electrical device that, when fired through the pistol, was split into streams and released from the muzzle in the form of a 'beam' that caused high level burns and could easily melt skin, bone and metal.

Perhaps it was because the enemy knew this as well that they had already left where the beam would hit before her team had fired. The enemy had dodged to the side approximately 0.3 seconds before the triggers had been pulled and then, the instant after they were pulled, sprang into action but making a mad dash towards its opponents-them- and swinging its arms towards them at a speed faster than most humans.

Amber and the two male crewmen dispersed, the two males jumping to the side while Amber jumped down once before then dodging to the side in order to avoid the enemy swings.

Again, they had no clue just how strong this enemy was physically. For all they knew a singe hit would shatter whatever the blow hit or could release pulses to mess with their nervous systems and cause temporal paralysis to their limbs.

As soon as the crewmen were out of range of the arms they raised their pistols again and fired once more. Surely this time...

 _'!'_ Amber released a gasp of shock as the enemy avoided the laser by _raising its left arm and reflecting the laser beams back_. Quite similar to how a laser would react to hitting a mirror the singular beams dispersed in all directions as they hit the arm. Amber frantically ducked to keep her head down and felt a slight singe and watched a small patch of hair fall from her head.

She saw red; no one touched her hair!

She jumped forward, pulled a screwdriver from her pocket, managed to wrestle the enemy to the floor- noting how heavy it felt, all but confirming it was a form of probe- and rammed the small tool into there the joints in its left arm were. The screwdriver hot nothing but the ground but momentarily caused the 3-d image of the commander fell to reveal a robot with no arms that used gyros to pedal around with a somewhat-oblong type body with red triangles likely acting as what kept the 3-d illusion. This was the true look of an optical camouflage probe.

Just as quickly as it appeared the image of the commander returned and used its arms to smack her aside. Despite it being made of mere imagery Amber felt herself get hit and was sent flying back a metre or two with a 'thud' when she hit the ground again.

 _'Do its legs morph to take the place of arms and legs?'_ Amber thought through a momentary groggy head. Her vision was shaking from the attack but thankfully nothing was broken so she was able to stand back up after seeing another round of laser fire as well as a pair of tongues clicking to indicate they'd missed.

By the time she was fully on her feet the probe was gone.

"After it!" Amber declared this while already moving forward. The two male crewmen were close behind.

* * *

Andrew had just finished the tampering of the elevators when he received the notice from the other team.

[The probes heading your way. We're on its tail but its faster than us!]

He replied to Ambers cry with an affirmative and gestured to his two female partners to get into position. While neither had weapons due to being moon priestesses they did have some tools at their disposal that could create a weak EMP wave that could, for but a moment, disable the probe and allow them to capture it.

The attack plan was simple, Andrew would stand out front with his own laser pistol raised while the girls would wait around the two corners. When the probe appeared, for there was only one way to the hall from where the other team had been, they would set off their make-shift grenade to freeze it; giving Andrew the opportunity to fire his pistol and vaporise it.

Or at least, that had been the plan.

[Dammit! It went into a maintenance tunnel!] Sounding as if she were about to curse, Amber gave that news.

"Which one?"

[The one that leads up to A-deck!]

He thanked Amber for the info, said he'd contact the bridge and tell them and then hung up the chrono communicator.

"...Hold on to that grenade ladies, we have some reversing to do."

* * *

Meanwhile, as that was going on...

"...And that's pretty much everything." As I stood within the audience chamber of C-deck Shiva gave a concerned look at the news. I'd just given her a full report over everything that was going on within the ship after the order to search for the probe had been given from the bridge.

The reason I'd come down here was simple.

"For those reasons Shiva, I've been told to ask you to remain here until the crisis has been averted. I hope you understand."

"Of course, I understand completely. But Will, where is your partner?"

"I have Fort- Lt Stollen with me as my partner. Lt Sakuraba is with Lt Franboise and Lt Blancmanche has been trusted on her a pair of crewmen that we managed to find after the order came through."

The reason I was giving this report myself instead of just relying on the bridge was because, for a reason I wasn't aware of, the broadcast speaker for the audience chamber was damaged. I'd been given a shrug and a 'I'm not sure' when I asked so I could only give up and run over myself.

"Understood. I take it then that Stollen is waiting outside?"

"Yes- probably with a grumpy expression for being made to wait as well."

A small giggle later and I was sent on my way; mission complete for now.

I exited the large white room into the hallway where Forte was waiting with a slightly grumpy expression on her face.

"Something wrong?"

"...You've quite friendly with the prince huh?"

Ah, so that was it.

"I simply offered to be his friend, that's it. Being royalty, atop of being kept in the white moon for most of his life, would lead to a lack of human contact; especially with people his how gender. With that in mind I offered to spend time with him occasionally- that's it."

"Uh-huh."

I held back the urge to give an annoyed sigh. Can we let our personal greivences slide for now please?

"Is this really the time Forte? We've got a bigger problem to deal with other than my suspicions don't you think?"

"...I guess that's true. Just one question though before we get going."

"Okay...?"

"What's 25x52?"

...Huh? Pulling out a sudden maths question like that? Why would...

Ah.

"...Do you have any paper on you?"

A small smile. "No, but I don't think you need any. Let's get going."

A returned the smile with my own and together to went off.

* * *

 **Well, that's it everyone.**

 **Will: You're kidding. Just this!? This the shortest chap you've ever written for this story!**

 **Not true, the starting chapters were shorter.**

 **Will: My point still stands. Why is this one especially short?**

 **Because, writing in a long ass manner for this would just be a waste of time. This isn't going to be as long as the last arc- as of right now we're only near the halfway point- so I'm going to end this hear so I don't bore people with repetitiveness- like the latest To aru novel did to me**

 **Will: Come on, it wasn't that bad.**

 **Still felt like it was dragging itself out to me.**

 **Will: Whatever, just finishing things up here.**

 **Sure, sure. Anyway everyone, hope you enjoyed this short chapter and please look forward to the next one.**

 **Until then, please R &R and I'll see you next time.**

 **Bye!**


	14. Chapter 12

**...Hey guys, welcome back to the adventures of William Johnson during the coup... I'm sorry this is more or less three weeks late. I've recently been reading the To-love ru manga, reading the Highschool DXD novels and a few other things that have kept me busy.**

 **Regardless, its done and it's here for all to see. The twist I said would come will be revealed this chap so please be happily surprised and anticipating what comes next during this arc.**

 **With that said, on with the story!**

* * *

Chapter 12: Crisis averted... right?

The first thing Forte and I did was head towards the elevator that lied within the deck. Apparently, while I was debriefing Shiva, the probe had managed to escape from B-deck through a maintenance shaft that operated as an emergency route between decks during the extremely rare occurrence that power has been cut from the ship during an attack.

Apparently, the maintenance shafts connect to the whole ship through a series of tunnels that connect through a central centre between Decks B and D that spread out like a sewer down every deck.

In other words, it was the perfect place the probe could use to move through the ship.

Hence why we were at the elevator that was connected to the central hall on B-deck. The maintenance shaft on this deck- one of two that existed on this deck- came out next to the elevator.

When we got there, three or so crewmen were already at the scene with welding tools in hand. The plan, it seems, had been to temporarily seal up the maintenance shafts across the ships, leaving only one open so that we could sent an extermination team in to deal with the probe proper.

It wasn't a bad plan, by any stretch.

But...

Just before the welding tool could touch the hatch it was suddenly thrown open and-

My train of thought was thrown out the window as a fist connected with my face and sent me flying back several metres into the wall. I felt my nose break and warm blood flowed down form the crushed bone.

-OWWWW!

After several seconds of holding in a scream of pain I managed to focus on what was going on at the hatch. The crewmen, after unsuccessfully trying to melt the illusioned probe with the welding tools, were thrown down the hallway after a single strike each and Forte missed two shots from her drawn gun due to the probe weaving through the distance between them, knocking the gun out of hand and throwing her to the side.

By the time I got back to my feet it already began moving- towards the audience chamber!

"No you don't!" The words left my throat while I was already flying through the air towards the fake Tact. With the feeling of hitting something heavy weighing against me I managed to get the thing on the ground and-

Was immediately thrown off after taking a blow to the abdomen. After landing I wrestled something from my pocket and threw it at the enemy.

The thing ended up being a pen which harmlessly bounced off the fakes chest.

Damn it!

The probe then ran down the corridor.

"After it!" I heard Forte declare after getting back to her feet. I followed suit and made off.

We couldn't let it do anything to Shiva- we wouldn't!

* * *

Back on B-deck, Andrew had finished fixing the elevator to allow it to move between decks again- a good thing too considering the recent news they'd just gained.

"The travel to A-deck had been a fluke?"

"Yeah, it went to C-deck."

"Then that's where we are going; keep that grenade in hand."

With that the group of three entered the newly fixed elevator.

* * *

At the same time, on A-deck.

"What, its not coming this way anymore!?"

Ranpha yelled this into her communicator. She and Milfie had been the pair chosen to watch over the deck and so had been stationed near the bridge where the nearest maintenance hatch had been placed. Ranpha had been rather looking forward to the machine showing its face so she could smash it to pieces but now...

"Ranpha, let's head to C-deck where Will and Forte are!" Ever the enthusiast, Milfie pulled on her best friends arm and dragged her back to the now functional elevator- having been reconnected by Andrew a short while ago (not that they knew that).

"Yeah yeah, let's shut this thing down!"

With that, the two girls moved to join the main force.

* * *

D-deck.

"This has become rather troublesome." Mint muttered this to herself as her small squad of crewmen ran to both the stairs and elevators in order to head towards the throne room. As she wasn't a fighter and so wasn't truly trained in any form of combat skills she decided her best course of action would be to head towards a safe room instead in the event the probe decided to begin targeting the members of the angel wing instead of the prince- or maybe they'd become its target after it attacked the prince.

Either one, she supposed.

While it may have seemed like a cowardly act to other, for the crew of the Elsior it made perfect sense for her to avoid conflict while not in her emblem frame due to one simple fact:

She was not just a member of the angel wing, but also the heir of the Blancmanche company. Her father, should Mint ever become captured or even killed during the coup, would immediately move to withdraw any support for the empire; though whether to provide support for Eonia or to become neutral in the conflict was a matter of debate.

Regardless though, it wasn't a situation that needed to be considered as long as Mint was alive and well.

And so, she headed to where the engineers were in the engine room. Even with the threat of the probe the repairs couldn't be halted, and so they continued to work away.

 _'At least it won't be much longer before things end.'_

The probe would be surrounded. Even if it managed to get into the audience chamber it would only be putting itself into a corner where Forte, Ranpha, Will and the crewmen could easily defeat it.

 _'...Hang on,'_ a thought suddenly came to Mint's mind that caused her to freeze in place. Her mind began racing and a possibility she hadn't thought of began to surface into the forefront of her thoughts.

 _'What if... that's what it want!'_

Now normally, such a thought would be preposterous. Machines didn't work beyond their programming no matter how advanced they were; but let us remember what we are dealing with for a moment shall we.

The enemy was a optical camouflage probe; a construct designed to sneak in and sabotage enemy bases and operations by taking the form of enemy soldiers and scientists using 3-D imagery. That is something that everyone onboard the Elsior knew and understood.

However, how can that be it? As a machine designed to sneak behind enemy lines it had to be able to deal with situations when escape was impossible.

And in truth, such a method did exist:

Self-destruction. When one doesn't wish the enemy to know of its opponents they send something that can be easily removed from the equation should things so south. In the case of a machine like the probe; what better way to wipe away the evidence then my blowing up everyone that knows of the situation as well as itself so it can't be further traced?

Mint considered all of this and came to the correct conclusion right away.

 _'...No, that can't be right. If that was the case it would have immediately headed towards the engine room and detonated there. It would have further managed the engines as well killed anyone who could fix it._

 _Then... what are they after? Why send the probe if not for that?'_

* * *

It had reached the throne room. As they had been prepared to deal with the probe on a different deck anyone that could have watched the door had moved towards the maintenance shafts on the deck to cut it off should it appear from there. As such, there were no guards at the door.

No, that was incorrect. There was one 'guard' there at all times.

Dressed in her blue robe the woman that served as the 'princes' attendant stood at her post; as she always did.

The probe, being a machine, gave the woman no more than a second look before attempting to blast its past her. Running at a speed faster than the average human it covered the small distance between them in an instant and-

-It was blown back. _Something_ struck its chest and sent it flying backwards, down the hall more than ten metres back.

The probe felt no damage from the strike, and as such returned to its 'feet' as soon as it landed and attempted to-

It couldn't move. Its 'foot' was caught by another _something_ that had attached itself to it.

It was a thin metal wire. Somehow, it had caught itself into the gyros that it used to propel itself forward and forced the 'limb' to become in-operable. At some point the woman had pulled it into her hand, wrapped it around its legs and thrown it backwards with nothing but her own strength.

Had it been human, it might have been impressed by the display.

"I care very little if you understand human speech." Her face lowered towards the ground, the woman that watched over the young 'prince' spoke up with a noise never heard by anyone on the ship. "But, should you attempt to go any further," She pulled with her fingers and more metal wire came from her sleeve.

Now that the probe looked closely, alongside the floors, walls and even ceiling, traps made of metal wire were woven all over the place. There was no way towards the door without making contact with one of them.

That had been what had caught in the probes 'legs'. The woman had yet to have done anything since it'd arrived.

"Then," the woman continued to speak. "I shall destroy you in the name of protecting that child."

Were the probe human, it would have felt a true sense of killing intent in the air. She really meant to kill it. Had it been human she likely wouldn't have changed her convictions in the slightest.

The probe had no way of knowing this but there was a name for what she was- or rather, what she was from.

GUARDIAN. They were the protectors of the royal family; born and trained into the ultimate bodyguards.

As such, the woman was more than a match for the probe.

The 'fight' would last no more than three seconds.

But again, the probe had no means of knowing this; and even if it did it wouldn't have made a difference.

It could only work to achieve its objective. And as such...

It attack-

"Stella, let it in." A voice, a single voice rang out. It had no command and it was one a person could easily ignore.

However.

"Of course, your highness." the killing intent immediately vanished. The woman known as Stella pulled on her sleeve once and the wire that covered the area returned to her sleeve in an instant.

She moved from the door and gestured the probe to enter.

"Also, please prevent anyone from coming in until I say so."

"Of course."

" _Do not kill anyone if they attempt to anyway, Stella._ "

"Naturally."

With that, the probe entered the white audience chamber unopposed.

As always, it was spacious and the pillars could provide cover for any other GUARDIAN's the 'prince' may have brought onboard. Shiva 'himself' looked rather calm while facing the machine that could snap 'his' neck in an instant.

"Drop the disguise, we both know the image I want to see... _Eonia._ "

For a moment nothing was said or done. The probe made a few steps forward until it was within five metres of the young prince.

 _And then it spoke._

"I am impressed, cousin; how did you figure it out?"

It was a voice that was calm and refined. One could listen to the voice for hours and never become bored of it. Almost immediately afterwards, the image of Tact Mayers was dropped in favour of a man wearing grand robes with orange hair that fell to his lower back.

It was the exiled prince, Eonia; the leader of the coup.

"It was not that difficult to figure it out." Shiva announced. "Had this been a sabotage probe it would not have come here and were it here just to confirm I was indeed on the Elsior you wouldn't have sent it in the first place; you would have been able to confirm it just from the fact we were in the Elsior and using the Emblem frames."

"Very true." Eonia replied back. "I knew you were here the moment the Elsior left the battle above Transbaal. Why else would it have left if not to ferry you to where the rest of the old regimes forces lay in wait?"

"In other words, the only reason this probe is here-"

".-Was so I could converse with you, dear cousin."

The leader of the Transbaal empire and the leader of the Legitimate Transbaal empire armed forces. Two people that could alter the scale of this side of the universe faced each other and began their battle of words.

* * *

When we made it too the throne room we found Shiva's attendant guarding the door. There were no obvious signs of combat in the hallway and the attendant seemed to be perfectly healthy; in that there were no injuries.

For a moment I felt confused as to why that was... before I immediately figured it out.

"Did Sh-... did the prince allow the probe in willingly?"

Both Forte and the crewmen that had come with the two of us looked at me as if I'd gone crazy (not that I could truly blame them) while the attendant gave a hidden smile that I barely managed to catch before it vanished before a face of stoicism.

"Correct, for that I ask you wait until the young prince calls you all in."

There was no kindness in her tone. Likely, she would unhesitatingly attack if we were to try and enter without Shiva's permission at this point.

However...

"For what reason would the prince allow that probe in!?" Forte spoke up my thoughts aloud. "If that things in there then-"

"I humbly request that you remain there, Lieutenant Stollen. Prince Shiva Transbaal have given the order that you are not to enter the audience chamber until you are called. If you should attempt to enter regardless..."

 _!_ A feeling of dread began welling up inside me as the air around us warped in the presence of the attendant. My body wouldn't move and just simply breathing was almost impossible!

This was... killing intent!?

-A masters orders are absolute. To a servant, they are the words of the gods that they worship. To obey it is their greatest pleasure and to complete it is their greatest reward.

...But to threaten those that protect your master... you'd go that far to accomplish your goals!?

"...You don't seriously just expect us to stand here until we're called; do you?"

"This is the orders of your prince- no, your Emperor. To disobey is a crime... _do you wish to be considered a criminal in my eyes, William Johnson?_ "

The pressure increased; or rather, the pressure that was being felt by every member of our group was suddenly all sent directly towards me.

-I couldn't win. To oppose this person was impossible me, who had never seriously trained his body before in his life. The best course of action was to truly just wait until Shiva's business was concluded and we were given the all clear to deal with the threat that it possessed against the Elsior and its crew.

That really was the best that could be done...

 _But._

"I can't accept that." I refused to budge. "My friend is in that room, alone, with a machine that could kill her in a number of ways as easily as crushing a bug. In that sort of situation... there's no way I'm just gonna wait around!"

I moved. I took a deep breath, took a single step forward with left foot and-

-Immediately found myself sent flying on my ass towards the ground.

"His highness has asked me to refrain from killing anyone for disobeying his orders." From her unmoved position the attendant spoke down at me while the rest of the group continued to watch everything in shocked silence. "However, he spoke nothing of inflicting harm to ensure your co-operation; if I must, I shall restrain your arms and legs one by one until you are complacent with his orders. _Am I understood, William Johnson?_ "

Nothing betrayed her feelings on the matter. The person I had originally the other day had completely disappeared to become this person that now stood in her place. Were they truly the same person? Could the kind, patient woman I'd met and that had been shown in the games seriously have been nothing but a front?

-No, that couldn't possibly be the case. This... this could only be...

"Why the intimidation?" As my worked my way back to my feet after the previous blow that I hadn't even seen, the question slipped through my lips. "Why try this hard to be someone you're not to us? You don't want to leave Shiva alone with that machine any more than we do right!?"

"Do not use his highnesses name so informally. Also, my feelings mean nothing compared to the orders of our prince. The fact that you haven't been restrained already is due to that the prince, for whatever reason, trusts you and looks upon you fondly." Again, nothing was released from the mask. "Now, kindly wait until you are called in."

A glare naturally came to my eyes. Of all the times to be like this... it had to be now!?

* * *

Mint continued on her way towards the engine room. She had been slightly delayed with the occasional crewmen running about towards the elevators and stairs but on the whole, she was nearing her destination. Her mind spun at speeds that could be considered unhealthy as she continued to think of possible theories over what exactly the purpose of the probe was.

Her ideas so far had been, but not limited to: Reconnaissance, infiltration, to serve as an sleeper agent and many more but she had found an eventual flaw with all possible theories and so had dropped them.

Her thoughts on the subject were so focussed on discovering the truth that she ended up walking into someone and subsequently falling onto the ground.

"Ouch!... My apologies; I wasn't looking at where I was going." Raising her head, Mint found a pair of crewmen looking down at her with amused expressions. Realising that they finding the situation funny, Mint felt her cheeks go red as embarrassment overcame her senses.

While laughing, the crewmen (a male) kneeled down and offered her his left hand. "Nothing to apologise for, Miss Blancmanche. We weren't focussing either, so no harm done." The crewmen offered a small smile before pulling the young heiress onto her feet with ease.

Mint, still embarrassed, offered a short "thank you" for continuing on her way-

"Hold up, Miss Blancmanche; where are you going?"

"The engine room." She replied without hesitation. "I'm no fighter so I figured it best I move to a safer area."

"I see. In that case, why don't we accompany you." The crewmen patted the shoulder of his partner, a female crewmen, who nodded with a small smile of her own on her face.

"Oh no, you two don't need too. You both were heading to C-deck to help deal with the probe right? When you best go and do that."

"Actually, we were just looking for a station to work in. The problem on C-deck has enough people dealing with the issue so they'll be no need for the two of us to join them- so please, let us watch over you, Miss Blancmanche."

"...Oh very well. If you are so insistent." With that, Mint turned around and continued her way.

And then,

"Excellent."

While hearing the crewmen say that, Mint promptly fell unconscious.

* * *

"-I believe there is nothing more for us to discuss, Eonia."

Saying that with a resolved look in her eye, Shiva looked towards the fake image of her cousin with a glare in her eye. For its part, the image looked almost chagrined as if it were speaking to a unreasonable child.

"Very well, cousin; but do take what I've said into consideration in the future... and know that I shall happily end this futile coup coming your surrender." With that, the image of the exiled prince faded and the probe returned to its true form.

For a moment or two it did nothing and nothing was done to it.

And then,

"Stella, it is done."

With those words the doors to the chamber opened and over thirty people including Lieutenant Stollen and her first friend William Johnson pooled in and charged the motionless probe. Will looked to have taken a small beating from an earlier engagement but he was still the one to deal the first blow with a heavy kick to the centre of the metallic foe; sending it flying backwards a few feet while Stollen levelled a old-styled revolver from her hips and pulled the trigger once.

All and all, it took only three seconds for the 'fight' to be decided.

It was over.

* * *

"Make sure this thing is properly looked over. Who knows what other surprises Eonia put in it." The crewmen saluted Forte at her orders and picked up the shot machine before taking it away; likely to the hanger so Creta could get a more in-depth look into it.

Shiva, thankfully, was completely unharmed; surprisingly. What exactly had happened between them in here while the attendant- Stella, if I heard correctly- was keeping us out.

Still though, it was finally over... right?

Was it though? The probe had been dealt with, sure; but did that mean we didn't have to worry about anything else until the engines were fully repaired and we were able to enter chrono-drive?

...No, something wasn't right here.

"Will, is there a problem?" Looking down slightly, Shiva sent me a frown of concern.

"I don't know. Everything should be alright but... it feels like we're missing something. What exactly happened while the probe was in here... or it confidential?"

"...Sorry, I can't say."

I nodded at that. "Okay." I couldn't really push her. If she didn't want to talk I wasn't going to force her too.

"What makes you think its not finished?" Still issuing orders to the crewmen, Forte shot the question over.

Folding my arms, I thought back to everything since the attack from the Hellhounds. What is it... what am I missing?

 _'Enemy missiles rapidly approaching the Elsior! All hands prepare for impact!'_

...Wait, missile _s;_ not _missile_.

"...Oh god."

"Will? What's- hey! Where are you..." I ignored the shouts of protests and ran straight out of the audience chamber.

It couldn't be... it couldn't be!

Taking out my portable communicator that's given to every member of the crew, I connected to the bridge.

"Huh, Will? Is there-"

"Almo," I interrupted her. "Earlier, how many missiles hit the hanger!?"

"Huh, what does-"

"How many!"

"T-three, but-" She didn't get to finish, I immediately disconnected.

"Dammit, there's two more!?"

* * *

When she awoke, she found herself in the storage bay on D-deck. Her vision was cloudy and a dull pain could be felt on the back of her head. When she attempted to move her hands she found she could not and when she attempted to stand she found her legs in a similar position.

She was completely immobile.

"Oh good, you're awake." A disturbingly familiar voice was whispered into her ears and she immediately turned her head to face its owner.

What she saw turned her blood cold.

Neatly kept short blue hair, floral pink ribbon tucked away in clear view at the front, unbuttoned uniform to reveal a blue dress, matching white gloves and black thigh-highs and, most importantly of all, a second pair of ears that resembled a rabbits. Mint Blancmanche looked on towards her with a smile that bordered on innocent curiosity and gleeful maliciousness.

Such a thing, however, was impossible. After all, _she_ was Mint Blancmanche.

"The... optic probe..." Through her hazy mind, Mint managed to speak the identity of the imposter. The probe move one of its fingers in its chin and gave an impish grin.

"I think you're mistaken. My name is Mint Blancmanche, heiress of the Blancmanche corporation and pilot of the trick master. _You're nothing more than a fake, right~?_ "

* * *

 **And just like that, the twist of the arc is shown and the true problem is revealed. Again, a kind of obvious trick here but don't worry; I've still got one more up my sleeve with this one** **so please look forward to it.**

 **Also, just to note; the Christmas fic I'm doing for this will be out either today or tomorrow. I know I'm cutting it pretty close here so please forgive me. I just really wanted this chap out of the way before I started working on it.**

 **With that said, please look forward to that and I'll see you guys in the next chap.**


End file.
